Extended Deadline!

Get your entry in before 5pm Wednesday 31st of July and be in to WIN!

Prizes

Prizes will be drawn in two year group categories: Years 9/10 & Years 11-13

WINNERS

+

Sony WH-CH720N Wireless Over-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones

RUNNERS-UP

NASA Mars Rover Perseverance LEGO Technic Set

Mars treats

The Martian by Andy Weir, paperback

Metal Earth Mars Rover

Space Up! Merch

SPOT PRIZES

Spot prizes of Space Up! patches will be drawn across all members who submit an essay.

The Task

It’s 2054 and you’ve been selected to live in the new civilisation on Mars. Your job is to send communications about Life on Mars back to those who remained on Earth. What would you like to tell them about? 

  • The physical geography of Mars and how it has affected settlement locations, e.g. access for landing/takeoff, temperature, sandstorms, radiation, meteorite strikes, 

  • How the settlement has been made self-sufficient. Think about food, water, oxygen, and all other necessities for survival,

  • Law and Politics on Mars,

  • The latest fashion Mars, and how it's suited to the environment,

  • How you travel around the planet,

  • What does a day in the life look like for a Mars civilian,

  • What research projects are currently being conducted,

  • Job opportunities available to new-comers

  • Something else?

  • Life on mars - the search for / research

We’d like to read about your ideas in a 500 - 1000 word essay, however we will also accept highly creative alternatives! Perhaps you’d like to produce a map of the Mars base, complete with detailed labels, or a poster/brochure advertising a job or unique aspect of life on Mars or video. We expect the non-essay alternatives to be equally as detailed as the essays and to have used the Resources provided.

Setting the scene

NASA is exploring Mars through robotic missions and, for the first time in history, planting the first human boot on another planet. Mars is the most accessible non-Earth planet in our solar system; it has a rocky terrain; somewhat similar daylight hours; and is not too far away. 

A Martian base will be a starting point for human exploration of the solar system, but will require immense technology and operations to be developed. The long-term stays will require engineers and scientists to develop ways for humans to live and work on Mars, including looking after astronauts’ health, ways to govern the society, developing new foods or ways to grow food. A Martian base will open up opportunities for new scientific investigations and travel further into the solar system. 

We have put together some Resources for you to learn more about Mars and to help you imagine a civilisation on Mars. 

Who will be living and working on Mars in 2054?

It takes many kinds of people to get to Mars and to stay there. Women right here in New Zealand are working on research or have space jobs that could one day help support a human presence beyond the Earth, could help explore Mars, or would benefit from a permanent presence on Mars.  We will introduce you to some of these women and their research videos we will post here on our website and in the Space Up! Community Forum. We’ll also provide additional Resources about Mars and Antarctica's Scott Base. You might also like to do your own research about all the science and technology that might be developed to help humans live on Mars and explore even further.

How to enter: 

Make sure you are signed up to Space Up! and then click here. Entries close Wednesday 31st July 2024 at 5pm

Resources

Mars; the planet

Mars missions

Civilisations in Space

  • Fiction

    • The novel Dune by Frank Herbert

    • All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

    • The Martian by Andy Weir

    • For All Mankind

    • The Expanse

    • 3 Body Problem

  • Non-Fiction

    • Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

    • The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must by Robert Zubrin

    • Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet by Leonard David

    • How We’ll Live on Mars by Stephen Petranek

Simulated Mars Missions

  • Scott Base - Analogous environments on Earth, like Antarctica’s Scott Base, provide insights into living in extreme conditions, relevant for Mars simulation studies.

  • The Mars Society - Advocates for Mars Exploration and settlement, and runs the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), simulating Mars missions to study human factors.

  • NASA’s Human Research Program, CHAPEA - The CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) includes studies and simulations to prepare humans for long-duration space missions, focusing on health, performance, and habitation.

Cool videos

Check out last year’s essay competition to get more inspiration!

Women Space Role Models

Women working in space career fields in Aotearoa New Zealand today across science and engineering could contribute to establishing a permanent human and robotic presence on Mars, or technology or science they work on could be further developed on Mars to help humans live and work in space longer.

Check back here regularly to find videos of some incredible women space role models talking about how their field of space expertise might be advancing on Mars in 2054, to give you some ideas to think about for your entry. We will be uploading videos throughout the course of the competition!