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    Could we make a home on Mars? It would be a very unique psychological situation

    Travelling to and eventually colonising Mars could be humanity’s best chance of longterm survival. But the opportunity to live on a new planet would come with unprecedented challenges – some predictable, some unforeseeable. In this animation-punctuated interview, the former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman elaborates on several challenges we would face in making Mars our home, including the vast psychological burden on early settlers, and the extraordinary task of making the harsh Martian landscape habitable.

    Producer: Marco Patricio

    Directors: Stuart Langfield, Vinny Verma

    5 December 2016
    Illustration of a foetus inside a red orb, floating in space with a small satellite nearby against a starry galaxy background.

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    How 3D-printing robots will get Mars home-ready for our arrival

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    6 minutes

    Abstract digital artwork of a polygonal astronaut in a spacesuit against a blurry background with red and brown shading.

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    Imagine alien signals are detected. Here’s what happens next

    3 minutes

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    A stunning vision of the possibilities of humanity’s expansion into space

    4 minutes

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    Fun in zero gravity: the real reason astronauts go to space

    4 minutes

    A spacecraft in orbit above Earth with a green aurora visible in the background.

    videoAstronomy

    The majestic Earth as seen through the eyes of astronauts orbiting above

    6 minutes