Change is healthy, but changing planets? For Mohamed Sallam, 32 and a financial planner, a change of planet could be a dream come true. “Since I was a child my greatest passion has been astronomy – space, the stars, the planets, the sun and so on. I have always wanted to see our world from the outside, to look at it from outside the box,” Sallam comments, adding that his greatest dream is to be an astronaut. As he grew up Sallam discovered that little attention was paid to science in many Egyptian schools. But the revolution revived his old dreams and he decided to join a programme about space and astronomy. In 2013, his big chance came. “I read on the BBC Website that the Mars-1 Company was intending to build a habitation on Mars,” he said. So without any kind of hesitation he filled in the application and submitted it along with a one-minute video about himself as the company had demanded. The video contained Sallam's answers to three questions. About 200,000 applicants applied to the programme, and only 100 (50 men and 50 women) were picked. Sallam was one of the men. Later this year, there will be a further two-week examination, and 24 candidates will be chosen, 12 men and 12 women. These 24 will go to Mars. The 24 candidates will study for 10 years in preparation, from 2016 to 2026. These 10 years represent the most difficult stage on the road to Mars. “The candidates will study physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and medicine in preparation for their trip,” Sallam explains. “They will study things on Mars that are different from Earth, such as the planet's soil, metals, gases and so on,” he adds. Sallam said that 12 of the candidates should take a PhD in medicine and 12 should take a PhD in engineering. Every candidate should learn aviation and perform 1,000 flying hours. “These 10 years will be very tough. But living on a different planet will certainly not be an easy task,” Sallam commented. Physical training will also be necessary, including isolation training. “The 24 candidates who go to Mars will be divided into six teams. Each team will contain two males and two females, and each will stay three months a year in a camp designed by the company that will be a miniature copy of the habitation it intends to build on Mars,” Sallam said. “The idea is to check that the people chosen can bear life on Mars.” During the three-month period team members will be forbidden to talk with anyone outside the team as there won't be any means of communication in the camp. This will be a tough challenge for all the candidates because such isolation could affect the psychological state of team members. “Some of them could fail and have to leave the whole adventure,” Sallam said. “For my part, I don't know whether I will be able to bear the isolation or not. But I have to try in order to pursue my dream to the end.” However, the journey to Mars itself is likely to be even tougher than the preparation. “Leaving Earth and going to Mars is a critical journey full of risks and it will require highly accurate calculations that if done wrong could mean getting lost in space,” Sallam commented. He added that it was essential to leave Earth's orbit and enter the orbit of Mars at the correct angle, something that could be achieved only once every two years, usually at the end of October and beginning of November. If the team fails to make use of this time, it will have to wait another two years. “Of course, there is also the danger of random meteorites and so on. In making this journey I am risking my life,” Sallam said, adding that the total journey time was likely to be seven or eight months. After reaching Mars, there will be many challenges awaiting the team. “The atmosphere of Mars is totally different from that of Earth. The air pressure is different, and there is very little oxygen so the team will have to extract oxygen from water,” Sallam said. One day on Mars lasts 24 hours and 40 minutes, which means the team will also need to adjust to the new rhythm. “One year on Mars is two years on Earth because Mars is farther from the Sun so it takes longer to rotate around it than the Earth. This means I will age one year every two years,” Sallam said, laughing. If he is able to go to Mars he will stay there forever, he said. “There is no way of getting back from Mars, so if you go there you will have to spend the rest of your life there,” he added. Despite this fact, Sallam's family is supporting him in his life-long dream to go to Mars. “My family is very supportive of me and believes I have the right to fulfill my dream, even if the price of that dream is to leave them forever,” he said. What annoys Sallam is the negligence of the Ministry of Education in Egypt in not teaching astronomy in schools, something which he says has led to a shortage of Egyptian astronauts. “I adore our ancient Egyptian civilisation and I am proud I am the grandson of the pharaohs who dazzled the world with their amazing achievements. I am sad that we aren't following in their footsteps and paying attention to vital sciences like astronomy,” Sallam said. The ancient Egyptians handed down an advanced civilisation that must be taken as an inspiration, he says. This was one of his main motives in taking his present difficult path. “We have to achieve progress in sciences like astronomy in order to make our grandsons proud of us like we are of our grandfathers. We owe this to them,” he says. “My next step before the exams is to visit schools and universities and to help students understand that science is the gateway to the future. I want to pass on what I have learned to others. Only in this way will Egypt reach the position it should have reached many years ago,” Sallam concluded. The writer is a freelance journalist.
