Aspiring Martians

It’s Earth Day—a time to reflect on the planet we call home, but also the perfect moment to dream about where we might go next. In this episode of Aspiring Martians, I sit down with Richard Hicks, a former Mars One applicant who was encouraged to apply for a one-way mission to Mars by his college professor. What started as a spark of curiosity in a classroom turned into something more meaningful: a connection to a global community ...

If you think planetary science is all lab coats and data sheets, Bharti Sharma is here to prove it’s also about curiosity, creativity, and a really strong desire to explore strange, dusty places. Bharti is a geologist, analog astronaut, startup founder, and active member of Women in Space South Asia. She’s worked across India in everything from palaeoclimatology to planetary mapping and recently completed a mission at the Mars Dese...

The red sands of the Gobi Desert might be thousands of miles from NASA, but they may be one of the best places on Earth to prepare for life on Mars. This week on Aspiring Martians, I spoke with Enkhtuvshin Doyodkhuu, project manager of Mars-V, a visionary initiative in Mongolia that combines a Mars simulation habitat, an international science and innovation center, and a satellite city that blends research, tourism, and futuristic ...

At one point, the idea of sending humans to Mars felt like something only governments and science fiction authors could pull off. But then came Mars One—a bold and controversial mission concept that didn’t just imagine a future on the Red Planet, it invited people to be part of it. This week, I speak with the man behind that idea: Bas Lansdorp, founder of Mars One and one of the most recognizable figures in the modern Mars movement...

How do you stay connected when you’re millions of miles from Earth and every message takes 20 minutes to arrive? In this episode of Aspiring Martians, we close out Women’s History Month with Dr. Kelly Haston, the commander of NASA’s CHAPEA 1 mission—a full year inside a Mars simulation habitat. Alongside her crew of three, Kelly helped test the realities of long-term Martian living, including one of the most overlooked challenges: ...

Growing food on Mars is one of the biggest challenges future settlers will face, but Cynthia Montanez is already working on solutions. As we continue celebrating Women’s History Month, this episode highlights Cynthia’s work as an Astrobiology student at the Florida Institute of Technology and a two-time analog astronaut at the Mars Desert Research Station. Her research focuses on turning Martian regolith into viable soil for plant ...

As we continue honoring Women’s History Month, this episode of Aspiring Martians features Anastasia Stepanova, an analog astronaut, journalist, and scientist whose work bridges exploration, media, and human endurance. With experience in long-duration isolation experiments—including four months at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and 240 days in a Moscow isolation experiment—Anastasia has firsthand knowledge of the mental and...

March is Women’s History Month—a time to honor the pioneers who have shaped space exploration and the future Martians who will follow in their footsteps. This week, Aspiring Martians kicks off a month-long celebration of women in space with Laura González Llamazares, an aerospace engineer, entrepreneur, and advocate for the next generation of female space explorers. Laura is part of Hypatia Mars, a female-led initiative dedicated t...

Sex in space—it’s a topic that has been ignored, joked about, or outright dismissed for far too long. But if we’re serious about building a permanent human presence on Mars and beyond, it’s time to start having real conversations about intimacy, relationships, and reproduction in space.

In this episode of Everyday Mars, host Joe Sweeney sits down with Dr. Simon Dubé, a Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute, Affiliate Professor at ...

Storytelling has always been at the heart of human exploration, shaping the way we pass down knowledge, share dreams, and envision the future. In this episode of Aspiring Martians, host Joe Sweeney sits down with Elahe Nouri, a theatre teacher from Iran and a Mars One finalist, to explore the role of imagination in space exploration. From the stage to the stars, Elahe shares how dreaming without boundaries can inspire the next gene...

Love and space exploration might seem like an unlikely duo, but for RDan and Yari Golden-Castano, their shared dream of living on Mars brought them together in a way that’s truly out of this world. In this Valentine’s Day special ofAspiring Martians, host Joe Sweeney sits down with the couple to talk about how they met through the Mars One program, fell in love, and eventually got married—all while preparing for the possibility of ...

What drives a person to dedicate their life to exploring the unknown? In this episode of Aspiring Martians, host Joe Sweeney sits down with Ryan MacDonald, an aspiring Martian from Derby, England, who has been chasing the dream of going to Mars since he was 18. A former Mars One candidate, Ryan has spent his career preparing for humanity’s future beyond Earth—earning a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cambridge, studying physics at Oxford...

Welcome to the first episode of Everyday Mars, a new monthly series from Aspiring Martians! This week, host Joe Sweeney sits down with Brent Sherwood, a leading expert in space architecture and development. With an impressive career spanning senior roles at Boeing and Blue Origin, Brent has spent decades designing the future of human life in space.

Together, they explore what it will take to build a city of 1 million people on Ma...

In this episode, Joe sits down with MoAfrica Thapelo, a South African aspiring Martian whose fascination with the Red Planet began in his childhood. MoAfrica shares his vision of conducting groundbreaking research on Mars, exploring how humans can thrive in its challenging environment while pushing the boundaries of science and discovery. His passion for Mars isn’t just about exploration—it’s about contributing to humanity’s next g...

In the debut episode of Aspiring Martians, host Joe Sweeney sits down with Dr. Leila Zucker, an emergency medicine physician, Mars One finalist, and lifelong advocate for humanity's future on Mars. Leila shares how her intense career on the front lines of emergency medicine has shaped her resilience and adaptability—qualities she believes are vital for life on the Red Planet.

From dreaming of being both an astronaut and a doctor as...

Welcome to Aspiring Martians, the podcast for those who dream of calling Mars home! In this trailer episode, discover the heart and mission of Aspiring Martians, where we explore the challenges, dreams, and real possibilities of life on the red planet. Why are so many daring people inspired to journey across the cosmic ocean to this distant, desolate world? Who are the pioneers, the visionaries, and the dreamers shaping the future ...