Tuesday, March 5th 2060, 6:00PM

This morning reading through hundreds of emails on my watchputer, (you know those computers you wear on your arm like a watch) I almost deleted the best email I’ve ever received! I couldn't believe me eyes when I read, "NASA is looking for individuals to send to Mars!" Without hesitation, I knew I was their person. So I sat down and typed up a report of myself and why I should be one of their astronauts on this amazing mission, and sent it off. To travel to Mars and establish a human colony there, would be my biggest dream come true.

Then came the waiting period. I must have checked my inbox a million times only to find more junk mail. I eventually realized that they were probably very busy reading through hundreds if           not thousands of applications and obviously I wouldn’t be hearing back from them today! So to keep myself from pacing around my small apartment, and in an effort to stay sane, I decided to start this journal. Hopefully I'll get recruited and this journal will turn into a masterpiece.

Wednesday, March 6th 2060, 11:00AM

NASA should be getting back to me any time now, I can’t deal with so much suspense. How long does it take to see if I am one of the chosen applicants? If they don't contact me soon, I'm sure to have a broken refresh button on my keyboard! All afternoon all I could think about was going to Mars, but  what if I’m not chosen?

So, now it’s about 4:00 pm and I still haven’t gotten word, I am starting to think that they may not have received my message!  Wait what was that! *Ding* Was that a new email? YES! It’s from NASA! Do I dare read it?

OK, here goes, “We are so very sorry…”

What! I didn’t get in! But, I had an amazing report. Just Kidding, I got ya! It says “Congratulations, you are going to be part of the first to build a colony on Mars! Report to Cape Canaveral April 2nd at 5:00 am sharp. We will be selecting positions and beginning training.”

Oh my goodness, wait let me read that again! Yes, yes and yes! I am going to Mars! Hmm, positions, I wonder if I have any chance of being something like a Captain or something else important! Ok I'm signing off because I have a ton of planning to do!

Monday, April 1st 2060, 12:00PM

Just 2 hours and I'll be setting foot in Florida and on my way to the biggest adventure of my life. Looking out of my small oval window at the clouds below, I can't help but wonder what the view will be like when I'm not flying over land but flying away from Earth into outer space! This is so exciting, I think I can actually feel the adrenaline running through my body! It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago I was scanning through job vacancies, and now look at me, on my way to a meeting at NASA's headquarters.

Tuesday, April 1st 2060, 4:00PM

Wow, it's hot here, when I left the covered structure to enter the passenger drone, I could feel the heat burning through my body. I know global warming has reached its max., but this is crazy! Thank goodness this drone is well ventilated and I know it's equipped with UV protection, or we'd all be toast!

Looking outside all I can see is miles and miles of swampland, not at all what I had imagined Florida to be like! Oh wait, there in the distance, what's that? That must be one of the tallest structures I've ever seen and I've seen a few! There is a sign on it, N. A. S. A, well what do you know, that's it! The famous NASA building! It looks very proud standing so tall reaching the clouds with the vast ocean behind it. Now, I'm really struggling with anxiety and so is everyone else on this drone! Let this mission begin!

Monday, April 2nd 2060, 4:00PM

We were greeted very briefly on arrival last night and directed to our sleeping quarters. I have to admit our beds were quite unusual, but at least I did get a good night's sleep. My bed is a strange capsule made of a some sort of rubbery material, which is suspended from the ceiling, I think, though I can't for the life of me figure out how it just hangs there. It looks and felt like I was just floating in mid air along with the 8 other people in my living quarters. This morning we were woken by a bright light, which filled the room and our "beds" automatically lowered gently to ground level. At the same time a cubicle rose from under the floor. As soon as my feet touched the ground, a voice sounded over the intercom, "Astronauts, suit up and report to level 63, room 501. You must follow the holographic arrows floating in the corridor". I found my spacesuit in the cubicle which had appeared from under the ground, and along with my fellow "roommates" we made our way up to level 63 following the floating arrows. Room 501 was amazing, like something out of this world! It had a clear, dome-shaped ceiling with a view to the outside, and when I say outside, I mean towards the sky! I actually think I could see Mars, well maybe not, but the view was breathtaking. We were all assigned "seats" which looked more like the seats of a spacecraft, but again like our beds they were floating in the air. Once seated we were instructed to close our eyes and open our minds. I can't explain this, but I could feel my brain filling with information. Time for something to eat, I'm famished!

Monday, April 2nd 2060, 8:00PM

Now, hours later lying in my "bed" my mind is still racing over today's events, it was extraordinary. I'm not sure how but they filled me in on everything about Mars. Obviously I was fed all the information while sitting or should I say floating in Room 501 but I didn't feel anything at all during the process, so I'm not sure how it was done! I seem to know every hill, lake and crater of the dusty red planet. When I visualize myself there I can even feel the thin atmosphere which makes it hard to breathe, I'm not sure I like the breathing part of all this! Anyhow tomorrow we are going over emergency procedures, like what to do if an asteroid is on course to hit the spacecraft, or if we're heading into a vicious solar storm. It sounds a little scary, but I'm anxious to get this training over, so we can head out on our mission to become the first Martian Colonists!

Tuesday, April 3rd 2060, 8:00PM

Well that was a long, exhausting but also super rewarding day! We learned all about emergency procedures and how to move around and breathe comfortably in our spacesuits. After the briefing they tested us! Yours truly passed with flying colors and believe it or not at precisely 4:05 pm they announced that I, Astéri Fengàri am to be Captain of the Space Travel XX. I am going to head the mission to Mars with the ultimate goal of creating the first human colony there! Unbelievable right! I can hardly contain myself, I'm bursting with excitement, though I have to admit there is a slight element of fear in me too! I know that if something goes wrong we could all die, our mission would fail, and that would be terrible not only for us but for the future of the human population. You all know that Earth cannot handle us humans for much longer, so if we do not manage to create a colony suitable for human life on another planet, then “bang” goes the human population. We can't let that happen now, can we?  I’d better get some rest, tomorrow is going to be another long one. I have some extra training to do now that I’m Captain Astéri.

Tuesday, May 7th 2060, 6:00AM

A full month of conditioning, and training has gone by in the blink of an eye. After procedure training last night, we were all summoned into the Executive Conference room where they announced that we are ready to go! Take off is scheduled for tomorrow, May 8th, 2060 at 5:43 am G.M.T. Unbelievable, we're finally ready. I feel like a little girl waiting for midnight to see Santa appear from the chimney.So if weather conditions stay as predicted we'll be on our way. Launch window is from 5:43 to 6:00! Fingers crossed the weather holds up and we manage to launch.

Tuesday, May 7th 2060, 10:00AM

As I mentioned earlier, today is our last day on Earth, and guess what, it's a day off. Our first day off since we got here a month ago! My crew and I are heading out to the beach for a last look at the ocean before our celebration dinner early in the evening. This is all so exciting, it's hard to believe how drastically my life has changed in the course of just a few months. Thank goodness I didn't delete that email from NASA back in March!

Tuesday, May 7th 2060, 10:00PM

We had a great day at Jetty Park, walking in the sand, watching the pelicans dive fearlessly into the breaking waves and taking in the sounds of the ocean. There was just a hint of melancholy amongst us, but for the most part we are all anxious to get on our way. NASA recruited a great group of people for this mission, we are all committed 100 percent to making a difference and it seems that none of us feel sad about leaving anything or anyone behind us here on Earth. Our celebration dinner was pretty normal, everyone wishing us well and congratulating us on being ready to go. I am so ready to get this show on the road, or should I say off into the sky! I just wish I could put my mind to sleep to wake up ready for action, but my mind and body just don't want to calm down! I have a million little questions that keep popping into my thoughts, like will the real thing be anything like the simulation runs we've been through or what if something happens while we're all fast asleep and emergency wake up doesn't activate, or will we really sleep the whole way and wake up on Mars! Ok, I'm going to put down my pen and force myself to sleep!

Friday, January 21st 2061, 3:00AM

Well it has been exactly 265 days since my last entry and today was not a part of the plan! For no apparent reason I was woken from my induced deep sleep by a malfunction of my sleep capsule to find myself the only one awake on board our spacecraft. I have to admit the feeling was unnerving to start with, but after confirming that all was well with both our craft and of course my sleep capsule, I calmed down. I checked on everyone to find them all fine, and naturally I did check that we were still on course and I took a look at the countdown to destination Mars apparatus… another thirty-five days to go!

I know I must get myself back into “hibernation” fast, so I’m going to sign off for now. Oh wait, one more thing, I did look at myself in the mirror… I look exactly the same as when we took off from earth 265 days ago! Seems like space travel might just be the real solution to anti-aging, haha. Okay that’s it, hopefully my next entry will be from Mars!

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2061, 10:00PM

Well that was another shock to the system. It was just twelve days ago that I was awoken out of the blue and here we are again with another incident. Only this time it could have been tragic! Very early this morning I woke up, along with my other crewmates to sirens wailing, red lights flashing and a general atmosphere of danger and emergency!

Immediately I switched into captain mode recalling my extensive training back on earth and jumped into action. First, I had to determine the cause; would you believe while we were deep in dreamland an asteroid had deviated from the belt and was hurtling towards our spacecraft at unheard of speeds. Remembering all our training, we managed to activate the extra shield around our craft, and fire anti-asteroid missiles at the stray asteroid, deflecting it enough to take it off course and keeping us safe. I have to admit, that for several minutes I thought we were going to be burnt to smithereens. We acted wisely and swiftly and are back on course to Mars, on our mission to create a new habitat for mankind.

Thursday, February 17th 2061 2:00PM

So we arrived two days ago!

Fun fact, the days here on Mars are in fact a little longer than they are on Earth and we don’t  call them days but rather “sols”. Just like the Spanish word for sun!

The first task we tackled when we arrived on Mars was to set up our Interplanetary Communication Center establishing communication between us and everyone back on Earth. It was fabulous hearing voices of our fellow humans, they sounded excited, loud and actually despite the distance they were very clear. Now we are in the process of researching the terrain and hopefully we will be moving onto construction very soon!

I can’t wait until we get some progress on the construction front; first on our agenda is the construction of our settlement. We plan on making our new home a comfortable place to live. Every time I study the blueprints I get an adrenaline rush of excitement! Just this morning the search drones flew over the perfect spot for our habitat, so I’m sending out the construction bots in the early morning! Operation colonize Mars is about to begin!

Friday, February 18th 2061 8:00PM (Sol 4)

I woke early this morning and ventured to the upper deck. Yesterday our construction bots removed the outer layer of the spacecraft after installing a small radiation resistant window to the outside. I watched as the sun began to rise on the horizon of our red planet. It made me think of the many sunrises I witnessed on Earth, but here the view is a little different. The sun which looked like it was wearing a blue halo, rose and the sky turned a pinkish orange. It was just like the many images I marvelled back on Earth at the NASA website. It truly was breathtaking!

After a long sol supervising the construction bots; who by the way will start work on our new homes as early as tomorrow morning, I am sitting here at the small window to our Martian sky once again, waiting in anticipation for the view as the sun sets on the horizon, painting the sky with shades of blue and our two moons appear above us.  I am beginning to love our new red habitat more and more.

Monday, February 21st 2061 8:00PM (Sol 7)

The bots are making fast progress of our new habitat, Residential Area MR1! It has a great ring to it don’t you think? Tomorrow I’ll be going to check it out with some other crew members. If everything goes to plan, we should be moving into our new homes within the week!

This red desert like planet with dusty winds and a pink morning sky is growing on me. I’m not excited about having to wear a heavy suit to protect me from radiation and keep my feet on the ground, but I do feel fortunate to be amongst the first colonists to inhabit Mars. We are working very diligently trying to ensure that our human population on Earth has a future home here on Mars. Our goal is to create sustainable living conditions here before Earth runs out of fuel.

Wednesday, March 9th 2061 (Sol 16)

So we’ve been here for just over two weeks and things are moving along super fast. You could say we’re progressing at the speed of light! My fellow Martians and I are proud owners of the very first living units in district MR1 on Planet Mars. The 3D Printer Bots have done an outstanding job building our community. I can only imagine this, but from space I bet our habitat looks something like a giant shiny octopus, with lots of tentacles. The central community area is a ginormous shiny dome shaped structure built to resist the strong dust storms here on Mars. Leading off of the community center are multiple tunnels which lead out in all directions at the end of which are our living modules. Our modules are also dome shaped but they are a lot smaller than the central one, each module has the ability to fold up and sink into the ground should we ever be impacted with flying debris or asteroids. One of these beautiful modules is about to be my new home!

Friday, March 11th 2061 (Sol 18)

So, today went well, in fact it went extremely well! 3D Printer Bots are putting the finishing touches on the interiors of my new home. Tomorrow if all goes according to  plan, I am moving in!

Terraforming is coming along well, we have accomplished so much in such a short time! I hope that one day we will have managed to change the climate enough to allow us humans to actually be rid of these bulky spacesuits. I know we have to take one day at a time, but sometimes I do get a little impatient.

Today as I was packing my few personal belongings, I came across my good old watchputer! It may seem strange, but with the fast pace of everything here I haven’t had time to think about anything other than getting our colony established. However when I picked up my watchputer, I couldn’t put it down so I powered it on! I decided to browse through my image gallery. Jetty Park filled my tiny screen, the sandy beach looked inviting and the sun glistening on the peak of the waves as they rolled onto the shore was sparkling like a million diamonds. A hint of nostalgia swept through me, but I brushed it aside and turned my focus back to things at hand.

Saturday, March 12th 2061 (Sol 19)

My Martian abode is beautiful! I have climbed up and down the spiral staircase connecting the three levels of my home, at least ten times, unable to decide which level I like the most. My bedroom is located underground on the bottom level, to provide extra protection in the event of a severe storm. The Construction Bots were able to transform the underground ice deposits into a light source. With the transparent walls of my room the halo like glow of the deposits give me a heavenly feeling. On the next level I have a small kitchen and office area with comfortable seating and access to all communications to the whole community. I think, best of all is the top level! I am the proud owner of a personal greenhouse. Glass like troughs are filled with purified Martian soil and I have already planted numerous  seeds. Soon this room will be overflowing with delicious vegetables. In time the oxygen produced from my greenhouse vegetables will be filtered through vents filling my home with clean fresh air. I can’t wait!

Oh dear what was that! Sirens? I am being summoned to control central!

Wednesday, March 16th 2061 10:00 pm (Sol 23)

These past few days have been more than hectic. News from Earth was very upsetting! We have to make even faster progress here on Mars if we are to save the future of mankind! Mars has to be able to accept thousands if not millions of people as soon as possible!

When I was called to Control Central the other day, it was because of an emergency on Earth, not here on Mars. NASA headquarters updated me on disasters occurring all over the World! Severe snow storms are destroying Florida, in fact they are so severe that the ocean has partially frozen, and a hurricane blew down the Parthenon in Greece! Who ever heard of snowstorms in Florida or hurricanes in the Mediterranean! Not to mention the Eiffel Tower in France has been levelled by hailstones and the entire Italian peninsula is submerged under water. Global warming has peaked and our fellow humans are in dire need of a new home!

Friday, March 18th 2061 (Sol 25)

Sols may be longer than days, but there still isn’t enough time for everything that needs to be done! Half of the 3D Printer bots are in the midst of creating multiple residential areas like MR1, while the other half are building interplanetary tunnels which will eventually form a network for travel between Mars and Earth, you know sort of like an Interplanetary Highway Grid.

I am finding it hard to keep up with journal entries as my time is spent supervising all the activities going on around “town”.

Time for humans on Earth is running out like the last grains of sand in an hourglass. With each new disaster we hear about we are forcing ourselves to work longer and faster in hopes that we will soon be able to accept new human arrivals. We all knew it would come to this, but we didn’t think it would be so soon!

Sunday, June 26th 2061 (Sol 125)

Well obviously some time has passed since my last entry! It’s hard to even start explaining all that has been going on here, but to cut a very long story short, we are expecting our first human arrivals from  Earth tomorrow!

The IT department here on Mars came up with an innovative craft that moves through our interplanetary tunnels faster than the speed of light, with the power of a huge vacuum and blower at the entrance to the main tunnel. The vacuum powered by an asteroid either pushes or pulls the craft safely through the network! It is so fast that the journey from Earth to Mars will be accomplished in just thirty days!

While the IT have been busy with solving the problem of transportation, our 3D Printer Bots and Builder Bots have been busy themselves creating hundreds of residential areas ready to provide homes for our fellow humans. Each residential area is furnished with greenhouses to ensure ample food and oxygen.

It’s all coming together! Tomorrow will be the defining moment… will the travelers arrive safely? I hope that my next entry will be while I am relaxing under the beautiful Martian sky explaining how we managed to save mankind from extinction.