Feb 17, 2015 | Mars, Media Publications, Read
The objective of Dutch non-profit Mars One is simple: to establish a permanent human settlement on the red planet. Mars One will begin training candidates for space travel up until its 2024 planned launch, when – if all goes well – teams of successful candidates from around the world will form part of the first human colony on Mars. Adriana Marais, a masters student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who the Mail & Guardianfirst spoke to when she made it through round one, and is now one of the final four South Africans, said: “What the first colonisers will do on Mars is really the pinnacle of four billion years of evolution.”
Feb 16, 2015 | Mars, Read
From more than 200 000 applicants across the world, Durban’s Adriana Marais is one of 100 potential astronauts shortlisted for a one-way expedition to Mars.
On Monday morning it was officially announced by the Mars One team that the 31-year-old quantum biology researcher was through to the third round of the application process, which could see her become one of 24 pioneers on Mars.
Sep 3, 2014 | Mars, Read
University of KwaZulu-Natal student Divashen Govender, Adriana Marais and Michael Grundling are ecstatic at the prospect of possibly living on the red planet of Mars – even though they may never return . The three are among the 705 people short-listed from more than 200 000 applicants worldwide.
Aug 5, 2014 | Mars, Read
She lies in bed daydreaming of the red planet, a place that has long inspired a deep curiosity as the only planet in our solar system to have a surface visible from Earth by telescope. A place where colonisation is no longer just a futuristic notion. Since early childhood Adriana Marais knew that if she was offered the opportunity to go into space, knowing she wouldn’t come back, she would never say no.
Jul 28, 2014 | Mars, Media Publications, Read
The Mars One programme is offering civilians, including South Africans, the opportunity to create a human colony on Mars. Is this a revival of the golden age of discovery, when explorers left their homes to begin new civilisations? Or is it a “suicide mission” in which people die in space while we watch from Earth, more than 200 million kilometres away?
It is the next frontier of exploration: space travel and colonising new planets. Six hundred years ago, explorers took to the high seas, forsaking land for months, on journeys from which they may have never returned. They went in search of exotic, “undiscovered” lands. In 2014, space travel is the new frontier, filled with the unknown and the taste of adventure.
Jun 25, 2014 | Cryptography, Mars, Quantum Biology, Read
Adriana Marais is not just another PhD student in the field of quantum biology – she is one of the remaining 705 candidates earmarked to establish a human colony on Mars in 2024.
“Having decided as a child to become an astronaut, I planned to study astrophysics or aeronautical engineering, but at the time became drawn to quantum mechanics, and eventually was led into research aimed at answering the question ‘what is life?’ and therefore the possibility of being part of the Mars project will most decidedly be the ultimate challenge for me.” In the meantime her time is spent fruitfully on various aspects in her field and her research is already being published nationally and internationally.
