Credit: Originally published by Daily Sun | 6 February 2018.
One of Mzansi’s doctors has been selected to go on a one-way trip to Planet Mars.
Dr Adriana Marais is one of six African candidates set to join the Netherlands’ “One Mars” program that wants to establish a colony on Mars. Speaking on a radio interview with Power FM, she had said that she’d dreamt of going to Mars.
“What I keep saying to myself is that we do not realize what an exciting time in this history of humanity and space travel we’re living in right now,” she said.
The project was established in 2012, and she expressed excitement at the prospect of going to Mars.
“Tonight, history will potentially be made, and South African-born Elon Musk is planning to launch the Sultan Heavy for the first time.
“On board is a Tesla car which will be launched towards Mars.”
Dr Marais believes that if it is a successful launch we would have made a huge stride forward in developing the kind of technology needed to take humans to Mars. The launch is set to take place on Tuesday at 8:30pm. One of the project’s founders is in Mzansi to discuss the program.
“The Falcon Heavy will be the world’s most powerful rocket able to launch several tons of cargo into orbit and further into Mars. To enable us to send a crew with the size and technology and the gear to keep them alive on the journey there and their arrival will amount to tons.
“At the end of the day this is a mission that all of humanity will share,” she said.
“I’m excited to be part of these people. We are engineers; we are researchers and believers in a beautiful future. This is something people are excited about: extending our world beyond our world which we have known for billions of years.”
Marais is a scientist that specializes in the field of Quantum Theory and is part of the Quantum Research Group at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal.
She has been awarded the South African Department of Science and Technology Fellowship Award in 2010 and the L’Oreal-UNESCO Regional Fellowship for Women in Science in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2013, and has been published in peer-reviewed journals.