First Civilian Mission to Mars

Having seen star wars, martian, gravity and such space fiction series and movies as I was growing up, terms like space travel, interstellar space, black hole, and wormhole are part of my daily life. I have always imagined myself involved in traveling to the Moon, Mars, Venus and creating a space settlement between Earth and the Moon. Also build robots that will explore deep space and assist humans to settle on other planets.

So when I got my seat confirmed on the first Starship flight to Mars, I just couldn’t believe it, but as the news sank-in, I literally got disconnected from my life on Earth and started already planning for my trip to Mars. I couldn’t hold my excitement and did not know if I was more excited to go to mars or meeting Elon musk. Earth and Mars are closest to each other every two years, hence the best window to fly to Mars is every two years. During this window a total of five spacecraft will be launched. Four will carry essential supplies for humans required to survive on Mars. These spacecraft will land one after the other in the same location around the same time on Mars.

We will travel on Starship to Mars which could take around six months to reach Mars traveling at the speed of over 100,000/kmph (of course Earth hours). Starship has compartments for travelers and up to five travelers will have to share each compartment. We will face massive g-force and rough ride for about 10 minutes after take-off due to friction of Earth’s atmosphere. However once into space it’s a smooth ride as silk. The only question then is what to do for the next six months? Of course to keep ourselves busy and make the most of our time we will conduct many science experiments in zero gravity and on solar radiation etc. Our daily routine on Starship will be similar to those scientists on the International Space Station. We will eat packaged food, drink recycled water, exercise for hours and grow plants. I have always dreamt of taking a space walk to fix antennas or solar panels. The feeling of being out in space, taking a spacewalk is absolutely  mind-blowing. I am sure we will be the most followed people on Instagram with our out-of-this-world photos posted now and then.

I realized we may not need to pack anything at all for our trip to Mars except cell phones, though connectivity would be a luxury and family photo album for those lonely hours. Specially designed clothes, spacesuits and travel kits are provided by SpaceX that are made from special fabric for the space environment and do not need any washing.

The other challenge will be to slow down our spacecraft for entry into Mars atmosphere. It is said that after entry into Martian atmosphere it faces heat at 1700 degree Celsius, known as seven minutes of terror before landing on to Martian surface. It’s hard to move or walk in or outside spacecraft after six months of zero gravity. And guess what upon landing, we were so excited to meet the Martians, waiting for our welcome but instead, we found it to be dusty and rocky terrain and nobody was waiting. I guess nobody informs the martians of our arrival , so we will have to walk up to them to say hello!