Part 3: Short text

Life on Mars

American billionaire Dennis Tito has plans to send a couple on a mission to Mars. Tito and his team don’t want just any couple on this 501-day return trip to the planet. They want two peas in a pod: the ideal candidates would be people who can cope with being together all the time, for about a year and a half, in a confined space. And there will be no distractions. The facilities will be very basic in order to save money. For the same reason, there is no landing on the cards. So you will go all the way to the Red Planet and back, without ever leaving your spaceship. No leg-stretching stroll, no glorious holiday snaps by your Martian sandcastle to show the family, no ‘meet the neighbours’! Is there any excitement left in this trip? After the fun of the first week in space, all you’ll have around is your partner. The risk of flying in the face of danger under such precarious conditions is that when radiation overexposure gets you, you’ll be long dead... of boredom! I’m passionate about space and sci-fi things. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. But the journey to adventure has to be a bumpy ride. If I’m sent to Mars, I want to go with a total stranger. The more alien the better. Each mind, each personal history, is like a planet and I would have all that to discover on my way to Mars. It is the unknown that is exciting! I would want to go to space with my own alien on board. bbc.co.uk, 2013