Mars One has officially given contracts to Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) to design a robotic lander and a telecommunications orbiter to launch for the Red Planet in 2018.

According to SpaceNews.com, the contracts are for design studies only and represent a small chunk of the financial commitment to purchase the space hardware. These contracts indicate Mars One is serious about its one-way trip to the Red Planet, but still far off from doing so.

The Dutch nonprofit group has been accepting applications (and a fee) from people who wish to take a one-way trip to live on Mars, beginning in 2025.

The lander to be designed by Lockheed Martin will be modeled one the Denver-based company designed for NASA: the 350-kilogram Phoenix Mars lander. Lockheed Martin SSTL's contracts are worth a total value of about $340,000.

"This is an ambitious project and we're already working on the mission concept study, starting with the proven design of Phoenix," Ed Sedivy, civil space chief engineer at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.

Mars One still has yet to announce what rocket partner will take their unmanned spacecraft to the Red Planet and also did not say how much they expect it to cost.

"We're in discussion with a number of potential partners," Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp told SpaceNews.com.

The lander will have a robotic arm capable of digging up soil, just like landers ahead of it. The initial 2018 mission will include an experiment to extract water from the soil and the use of thin-film solar panels. The orbiter will synch with the lander and provide the Earth with the data it collects.

"This study gives us an unprecedented opportunity to take our tried and tested approach and apply it to Mars One's imaginative and exhilarating challenge of sending humans to Mars through private investment," Sir Martin Sweeting, executive chairman of SSTL, said in a statement.

Mars One has estimated it will take $6 billion to get the first four participants to reach Mars, Space.com reported. After that, each trip will cost about $4 billion. The project is being funded by a reality TV series documenting the process, a crowd-funding campaign and though donations.

"Our 2018 mission will change the way people view space exploration as they will have the opportunity to participate," Lansdorp said. "They will not only be spectators, but also participants."