Creative Adventures — 14

Imagine You Have Landed On Mars

You Are Part Of NASA’s Perseverance Mission

Another historical day! NASA has now successfully landed its Perseverance rover on Mars. This is a deep and wide crater (28-mile-wide) near the planet’s equator called Jezero. Jezero held a giant lake billions of years ago. In the upcoming weeks, the six-wheeled rover will drill into the local rocks in the ancient river delta looking for evidence of past microbial life. This is a crucial mission to prepare the way for future human visitors.

You can see the first picture as Perseverance rover touches down on Mars (below):

Please use your creativity and respond to the following prompts:

1. Imagine that you are part of a similar mission. The year is 2024. You are a team of scientists who will explore Mars. Write down an autobiographical story about your journey to Mars. What were the challenges you faced during the 7 months you traveled from the Earth to Mars? How did you overcome them? How many people were you? How did the landing go? What were your first impressions and emotions?
2. Imagine that you are keeping a diary documenting your daily reflections and experiences. Write down sample entries of this diary.
3. Imagine that you are exploring Jezero (the site of the ancient lake), the old river delta, and the rock samples in that area. Imagine you are surprised and excited by your discoveries. What did you discover? Where is the evidence? Why is this significant for humanity? What are the implications?
4. Imagine that you will stay for at least two years on Mars. Write down a story about your experiences on this red planet. How is your daily life? What missions are you working on? Which dangers and challenges have you experienced? How have you overcome them?
5. Write a letter to your chosen beloved ones you have left behind on Earth. Describe your life, your experiences, your challenges, and your emotions.
6. Imagine the future human civilization that will be widespread on Mars after 100 years (the year 2124). Write a science fiction story that illustrates future life on Mars. Here are some prompts to unleash your imagination: Which cities are there? What is the population of Mars? Are there different city-states or countries? How is terraforming coming along? How did Mars gain its independence from the Earth? What are the different periods in the history of Mars? Which technologies are used in the course of daily life?
7. Imagine life on Mars in 2124. What are some of the best tourist attractions on the red planet? What are some leisure and fun activities to be done on Mars? Imagine that TripAdvisor is asking your ideas: Top 10 things to try on Mars. Exploring Valles Marineris canyon system which stretches 4000 km, 200 km wide, and have walls 2–5 km deep? Exploring Olympus Mons — the largest volcano in the solar system (700 km across and 22 km high)? What could be some other attractions and experiences?
8. Imagine that you are attending Martian Olympics in 2124. Martian Olympics is a great feast! You can jump 3 times higher, and you can throw things 3 times further (due to 1/3 gravity.) Describe your observations and experiences of attending the Martian Olympics.
9. Imagine that the year is 2324 and human life has extended to all areas of the solar system. There are human habitats stretching from the Vulcanoids of Mercury all the way to Pluto, the Kuiper Belt, and the asteroids. The most powerful human civilizations are set up on Mars, Venus, Saturn’s moons, Jupiter’s moons, and Uranus. Imagine this futurist world. Create a science fiction story set in this world.
10. Imagine the top 10 experiences you can experience across the solar system in the year 2324. To get started, you can check out the top 10 places to visit in our solar system. Imagine and create the most memorable tourist experiences in our solar system. In other words, you will create Tripadvisor’s “Top 10 Things to Do In The Solar System”.

Fahri Karakas is the author of the Self-making Studio. You can explore more here.