Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars

SPACE, EXPLORATION AND LIFE ON EARTH

■ Author: Kate Greene

■ Publisher: Icon Books

■ Price: £14.99 / $27.99

■ Release: Out now

After Earth, Mars looks to be the most accessible planet for human settlement and exploration. You often hear of scientists' goals to reach the Red Planet, but what struggles will be faced when we eventually succeed? In 2013, science journalist Kate Greene was selected to take part in an analogue Mars mission called HI-SEAS. The simulation explored how four months in an isolated Martian environment would impact the volunteers.

The real location? Inside a giant white dome on the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Loa.

Throughout this book, Greene provides her insight into this futuristic experience, while also detailing the extreme consideration, research and preparation that comes with a NASA mission. Her touchingly personal and informative account draws on human feelings and behaviours that we can all relate to. Why do we feel the need to constantly move forward and explore? How would our settled lifestyles on Earth affect us psychologically on a new planet? Admittedly not everyone would respond to the experience in the same way, but as someone who has tasted this possible future, Greene allows you to share in her experiences, struggles and awe. Faced with new technology, daily chores, a limited social life and an alien physical environment, these are just some of the realities of a life on Mars.