Mars occupied an important space in the beginning of my human life. As soon as I came into the world, my mother told me about the stars, the constellations and in particular, about her unfulfilled dream of going to Mars when she was younger. Thus, the Red Planet became an important part of my childhood to the point of an obsession during my first terrestrial years. At that time, I would never have imagined that one day I would be one of the first humans to set foot on Martian clay and begin the process of creating the first human colony on another planet.

The story of Mars and my mother began when she arrived in Lima and met a boy named Jaime. They fell in love and made plans like any couple excited about a future together would do. Unfortunately, the economic situation and the precariousness of their jobs snapped them back to their sad reality. So, they needed a plan B, or at least an illusion of an escape plan from their situation.

Lima was always a city of immigrants. Since the 1940s, due to the lack of employment in agricultural areas and opportunities for local development, a wave of peasants and indigenous people from the Peruvian mountains consolidated the population of the peripheries of Lima which became the place to find cheap labour for the middle and upper classes who lived in the city centre. These Peruvians were marginalised, the vast majority worked informally and were victims of racism and classism from the Lima elites. Jaime was a descendant of these Peruvians who came to Lima in search of better opportunities and who were still fighting to survive in the city.

But the Peruvian capital experienced another wave of immigration with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the crisis in their country; violence, corruption, authoritarianism and the lack of basic supplies and job opportunities. This is how Vanessa, Iris’s mother arrived in Peru, unfortunately passing away as soon as she reached the border.

And this is how a poor Peruvian man and an orphaned Venezuelan girl, without any higher education, lived in a big city where hundreds of thousands of other people were in the same boat. Any opportunity for a new life was slim to none.

This is how they came up together with this delusional idea that they could be chosen for the Martian exploration program. Not only did they not have higher studies in science, which was an essential requirement, but they also did not speak any other language other than Spanish, among other necessary requirements that they did not meet either. In short, they were never going to be chosen, which deep down they knew, but their immense desire to escape life in The Horrible allowed them to dream and hope that one day their life would change.

But as my mother once said, “things happen for a reason”. This is a saying I never liked in my human days. It is a phrase that shows we are not in control of our lives and we only have to accept a destiny that is forced on us.

Millions of years later, I would discover that I had a destiny and my destiny was the destiny of the Universe.

But I still remember the first time I heard those words from my mother’s mouth when I was just 9-years-old.

• In the end, things happen for a reason Alfonso, the people from Space X never called us, but it was for the best. That first mission that started in 2040 suffered a terrible tragedy and thank goodness we weren’t there
• But mum, if you were there, I would never have existed, right?
• Yes my love, you are right, that’s why I’m glad I didn’t go – I can still see her smile and feel her affection when she said those words to me. I immediately asked her – but what happened?
• Well, after almost 9 months of travel, when they were about to reach Mars, the spacecraft had a malfunction and the astronauts ran out of oxygen and the engines failed
• Did the astronauts die?
• Yes Alfonso, they all died …
• So I’m glad you didn’t go, mum – while saying those words to her, she looked at me with tenderness and infinite love.

But there was one thing my mother never told me. The Space X 2040 mission was just a one-way trip. It was a mission whose objective was to verify the viability of a colonisation on the Red Planet, to study the impact on the human organism of living long term in another gravity and in conditions other than the terrestrial ones and to send all this valuable data back to Earth to prepare for future colonisation missions. The astronauts on that mission were willing to sacrifice their lives for it and so was my mother.

The accident occurred with only a week to reach the Martian orbit. A malfunction in the ship’s electrical system affected the life support and oxygen recycling system. The failure also affected the engines creating a detour in the route of entry to Mars. The spacecraft crashed on Martian soil with the lifeless bodies of the astronauts inside.

But their sacrifice was not in vain, from Earth, engineers and scientists were able to save the Rover 2040 that the ship carried with it. The Rover 2040 was an autonomous robot designed by NASA and Space X engineers whose objective was to assist in reconnaissance and exploration missions to other regions of Mars. The Rover 2040 was cleverly ejected from the spacecraft and landed on the north polar cap from where it would send important data for many years to come.

The Space X 2040 mission was a failure. The tragedy put into question the feasibility of sending manned missions to Mars. Opinions were divided but the immediate consequence was that all exploration programs were halted worldwide.

But that never stopped me. The spark my mother gave me shaped my personality and ambitions. I wanted to achieve what she never could. This time it would be different because I had done higher studies in science and could speak 3 languages. It was just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity.

It was just a matter of being patient.

And I have always been a very patient person.

Mars was waiting for me – I was sure about it.

And time proved that I was correct. One day in 2060, when I was 17-years-old and was on the fence about choosing archaeology or another career, the Rover 2040 knocked on humanity’s door with news that would forever change the course of history. As a consequence, the exploration programs for Mars were reactivated worldwide and a series of emergency measures were launched.

It was a signal, that’s how I felt it, it was as if the Rover 2040 had called me. Without hesitation, I enrolled in an archaeology degree. That was one of the profiles requested for the next exploration missions thanks to discoveries made on the Red Planet.I was one step closer to Mars.