Pinoys to take part in home building on Mars

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – Believe it or not, Filipinos will take part in a project to build homes on Mars in 2030.

“Our very own Filipino astronomers, architects, engineers and students will be taking part in designing, planning, and promoting the Mars Homestead Project,” said Custer Deocaris, head of Rizal Technological University Office of Space Innovation and Cooperation based in Mandaluyong City.

Deocaris said the goal of the project is to build the first permanent settlement beyond Earth, allowing human civilization to spread beyond the limits of this planet.

The details of Filipino participation in the project will be discussed during the First Astrobiology Forum at the Rizal Technological University today.

Deocaris said journalists will have the chance to interview NASA astrobiologist and Stanford professor Lynn Rothschild and engineer Bruce MacKenzie, founder-director of the Mars Homestead Project, during the forum.

Other issues that will be discussed in the forum include the history of Mars water and updates on researches on Martian microbiology.

“Mars, as you may know, is very important right now, in that we have ongoing missions designed to characterize the planet and search for biosignatures of life,” said Deocaris, who is also an astrobiologist.

Astrobiology, he said, is only taught at the Rizal Technological University. The subject is one of the newest and most cutting-edge fields of science. The course is about the origins and evolution of life, the future of human civilization and its impact on biosphere, and the scientific aspects of search for life beyond Earth.