Meet the teen who trains to live on Mars
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Alyssa Carson speaks four languages, has knowledge about aeronautics and robotics, and is the promise of humanity on Mars
Alyssa Carson is 17 years old and from an early age prepares to be the first person to set foot on Mars. If everything goes according to plan, in 2033 Carson will travel to the Red Planet to carry out experiments, grow food, and look for signs of life that will allow a human colony to start.
Leer en español: Conozca a la joven que se entrena para vivir en Marte
Alyssa discovered her passion when she was 3 years old, as she tells herself in numerous interviews, after having seen a cartoon show where a group of animals travels on an imaginary expedition to Mars. Since then her curiosity to discover the universe was fueled by her parents, who gave her access to smaller telescopes, books and maps about the stars and planets.
At age 12, Alyssa, who at NASA is known under the pseudonym 'Blueberry', had already completed all three NASA camps in Huntsville, Alabama; Quebec, Canada; and Izmir, Turkey, thus becoming the youngest in history to complete them.
The promise of NASA
For this intrepid and determined young woman, becoming an astronaut is not a dream more like what many of us had in childhood. The work and perseverance of Alyssa in this affair led her to join the Mars One program, the first human expedition to the Red Planet that is scheduled for 2033.
Alyssa's training is rigorous. She is prepared at the Marshall Space Flight Center several hours a day, without resting a single day of the week. She receives education on robotics, aviation, micro-gravity, organic reactions to oxygen loss, and speaks fluently four languages: French, Chinese, Spanish, and English.
For NASA Carson is an invaluable promise. Due to her young age and the extensive training she has received and will receive in the years to come, the young woman is one of the best candidates considered to participate in the first Martian expedition. In keeping with the estimated times, Alyssa will be 32 when the Mars One program takes off, the perfect age to become the first human being to set foot on another planet.
In the midst of her exhaustive preparation, Alyssa still has time to travel around the world giving lectures to kids her age. In his talks Carson exposes his own condition to excite children about space exploration and motivate them to follow their dreams, however impossible they may seem.
A mission with no return?
Among the many physical, psychological and intellectual requirements that Alyssa must achieve to become an astronaut, one of the main ones is to avoid close relationships, since at the moment of traveling to Mars, having sentimental ties on Earth could harm the mission.
Her parents recognize the risk that comes with becoming the first person to travel to another planet, however, they support each of her steps to help her achieve her life goal.
According to expert explanations, landing on Mars is a thousand times more difficult than reaching the Moon. Astronauts traveling may be exposed to radiation and will have to endure a journey of at least 160 days at high speed. Upon reaching Mars, the privileged scientists will begin to cultivate plants, conduct experiments and evaluate the conditions of the planet to prepare the place for future human expeditions. It is a historic journey that has insured the one-way ticket, but no return ticket.
Latin American Post | Krishna Jaramillo
Translated from "Conozca a la joven que se entrena para vivir en Marte"
