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Mike BodnarAge: 57 Special interest/s while on the mission:Journalist, Mission Communicator and documentary-maker, Astronomy, Education |
Contact: |
mgbodnar@gmail.com |
Profession: |
Communications/PR consultant |
Professional qualification/s: |
Dip. Tchg/Teachers’s Cert; APR (Accredited in Public Relations) |
Passionate about Mars because:
Despite growing up initially in the light-polluted city of Liverpool in the UK I have been interested in astronomy and the skies since I was about nine years old. At age 12 I was given a “proper” astronomical telescope and studied the night sky. I also read a lot of science fiction, and was introduced to the possibilities of colonising Mars by noted British astronomer and author Patrick Moore in a series of books he wrote based on the planet.
New Zealand’s relatively clear skies (plus the much denser southern hemisphere night sky) have enhanced and maintained my interest in astronomy, but the prospect of Mars possibly once having free-flowing water, and therefore equally possibly some form of life, continues to intrigue me.
With terraforming techniques, Mars even has the potential to become a “second Earth”, though that would be some hundreds of years in the future. In the meantime the planet awaits further exploration by robotic landers and rovers, and ultimately by humans.