'Adam and Eve of another planet': Briton bids to be first woman to give birth to MARTIAN
WOULD you Adam and Eve it? A British student is in line to become the first woman ever to give birth to a MARTIAN
It
aims to create a permanent settlement for our race on Mars and will
start by sending 40 people in 2024 after 10 years of extensive training.
She
has been shortlisted to make the 140million one-way journey to Mars and
she believes she could be the first woman to give birth on Mars.
Miss Lieu said: "It would be incredible to be the Adam and Eve of another planet.
"Because
it is a colonisation programme, it's inevitable that eventually someone
will procreate and it would be incredible to be the first mother on
Mars."
If successful
the astrophysics PhD student at the University of Birmingham will have
to contend with temperatures as low as -62C and lethal radiation levels.
Other pitfalls on Mars would include being in danger of suffocation, starvation and dehydration.
Despite
this Miss Lieu, who lives in Coventry in the West Midlands, still
thinks it will be possible to become a parent on the red planet.
She said: "Being the first mother on the planet would be an honour and privilege.
"It's inevitable that humans will have children on Mars and if I could be the first I would love it.
"I'm sure it would be a challenge - nobody has done any research on giving birth in a low-gravity environment - but just being able to say that your baby was a Martian would be really funny.
"Being
the first of anything means you go down in history. Everyone remembers
Neil Armstrong and he had such a big impact of space exploration.
The first human settlers on Mars will have to learn a range of skills from medicine, agriculture, plumbing and electronics.
As
well as having to grow their own food and create their own oxygen they
may have to live underground to avoid extremely high radiation levels.
And
despite taking up to 22 minutes to send a message from Mars to Earth
and the prospect of leaving her family, Miss Lieu is not daunted.
She said: "The trip
is one way because there are no launch pads on Mars and it would
require much more than the $6 billion currently budgeted for the trip to
bring us home.
"Another problem is the effect low gravity environments have on the human body.
Adam and Eve of MARS!
It would be incredible to be the Adam and Eve of another planet
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