There’s a rapidly growing space industry taking Earth by storm as billionaires, futurists, and your everyday stargazers alike rush to shape the future of humanity as an interplanetary species. It feels like we are living in one of those rare, historic times when there’s an air of novelty and potential to chart the unknown and do the impossible.

 

Yet, the question remains: Should we simply sit by passively as our current way of life perpetuates? Do we continue to assume that technological development is the peak virtue of progress? Or is this an opportunity to look beyond the “how” of getting to Mars and instead explore the potential of a more just and equitable future?

 

Welcome to the beginning of the What Not to Take to Mars Speculative Fiction Program, a project that will deliberately imagine and design what a Martian society might look like and ask the question: “What should humanity strive to leave in future history books?”

 

What systemic problems could a future martian society avoid? Or in the process of trying to avoid some problems, what mistakes might the global community of Mars agencies and designers end up creating? 

 

We need your help.