‘Mars One’ Hopeful Maggie Lieu Wants To Have First Martian Baby

Maggie Lieu, a 24-year-old British astrophysics Ph.D. candidate at Birmingham University, plans to have Mars’ first human baby. She’s one of about 100 people being considered for the Mars One mission, a $6 billion one-way trip to colonize the red planet set for 2024.

Ms. Lieu made it clear on her blog that she isn’t just planning to go to Mars to breed, but if Mars One establishes a colony, it’s going to happen eventually, and she thinks it would be a big honor to be the first.

As Maggie Lieu explained to the Express, “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… 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.”

What about the tremendous dangers for a baby on Mars?

The Huffington Post reports temperatures on the surface of Mars can hit negative 81 degrees Fahrenheit. That coupled with a high potential for starvation and dangerous levels of radiation make the Red Planet seem like an inhospitable place for a newborn baby.

But Maggie Lieu isn’t too worried.

Ms. Lieu acknowledges there isn’t any research on insemination in low-gravity environments, and the full scope of the danger is fairly unknown. Still, women give birth in dangerous situations on Earth too, as Lieu explains in her blog.

“I don’t think it would be much different to some of the living conditions and relationships people have with their children here on Earth. In poverty areas of rural Africa, women face huge risks of death during childbirth. Knowingly so they still give birth to children, that are raised with no access to hygiene, food, water or education.”

Maggie Lieu goes on to say that her priority is research. Nevertheless, her struggles in finding a father and raising a baby on Mars would be great material for the Mars One reality show.

According to the Daily Mail, Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, is planning a TV documentary to “document the aspiring pioneers’ astonishing journeys every step of the way in the lead up to the mission.”

It’s not clear if the show – dubbed the Big Brother of Mars – will continue to film when they actually reach their final destination.

In any case, there will still be a lot of time before Maggie Lieu can fulfill her dream. The Mars One mission is scheduled to send the first four colonists to Mars in 2024. The first rover scout will go in 2018. In the meantime, 40 people will undergo years of training learning everything from agriculture to medicine. If Ms. Lieu is selected, she’ll also be mingling with the limited male specimens for a possible Martian father.

And, of course, the first step for Ms. Lieu is to be picked for the mission. Maggie Lieu and the other finalists will learn next month if they will start training to be the first colonists on Mars.

[Image via Karen Robinson/Guardian]