I’m Going to Mars!

I’ve done stunts like this before here on Planet Pailly. My favorite example is that time I spent a few weeks on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. I was totally there. For real. I walked around in Titan’s icky tholin mud and I figured out how to fly in that thick, soupy, tholin-rich atmosphere. I even befriended a methane-lake monster.

But that was only a short, two-week adventure. What I’m planning now will be much longer (and if I’m going to make this in any way believable, much more research intensive). Some of you may have guessed a while ago where I’m going based on this cleverly cryptic post. But now I can make the announcement officially:

I will be spending the next two months (maybe longer) living on the planet Mars.

To be honest, I’ve always felt a little embarrassed by the fact that I do not know much about Mars, or at least not as much as a space enthusiast/Sci-Fi writer like me should know. The problem is that there’s just so much more information out there about Mars compared to any other planet in the Solar System (besides Earth). And thanks to all the robotic exploration taking place right now on the Martian surface or in Mars orbit, new discoveries seem to come out every week or sometimes even every day.

That’s a lot of knowledge to sift through. It can get pretty intimidating. So my goal for this mission is to really immerse myself in everything Martian so that I can get to know the Red Planet better.

P.S.: There is one possible problem. Even though I’ll be living on Mars, I still have to work my day job back on Earth. That’s going to be quite a long commute!