There are two goals for the competition. The first is to harness the creativity of students around the world towards the challenges of spaceflight and the exploration of Mars. The second is to promote international cooperation among the next generation of scientists, engineers and professionals. In many cases this will be the first time working on projects with people in other countries and the first time using the Internet for serious work.

According to Society co-founder and President Michael Slage "Crowdsourcing at its heart is distributed problem solving. And a human mission to Mars presents one of the most complex but important problems ever. Today there is no reason to exclude the ideas and capabilities of anyone because of geography and it seems fitting that the plans for going to be Mars be created by people all over the Earth instead of a few countries."

In the crowdsourcing spirit the project is to be crowdfunded by individuals as well as through sponsorship by companies and organizations around the world.

The Crowdsource To Mars International Online Platform and Student Competition is open to students from 12-18 years old. Its purpose is to inspire students around the world to focus their creativity on offering solutions to some of the challenges of a mission to Mars. Students will work with mentors who can be family members, teachers, or science professionals. Interested students and mentors from around the world can sign up on the SISC site and find others to collaborate with on a project. Team projects with participants from multiple countries are encouraged. Online collaboration and tools will be provided for teams to be able to collaborate across the globe.

Winners will be awarded significant monetary prizes to support their education and given an extraordinary opportunity to meet today's world-renowned scientists and scholars.