杏吧原创

What is your job at the South Pole?
I basically man the Keck Array telescopes and make sure the data is coming in. I鈥檓 responsible for everything from electronics to system administration, optics to mechanics 鈥� whatever is needed.

How long do you stay there for?
Right now I鈥檓 doing back-to-back winters, so I鈥檓 here for nine-and-a-half months. This is my tenth winter at the South Pole.

Is it hard to adjust when you return home?
I鈥檝e done it so many times now it鈥檚 like flipping a switch. I remember my first year it was like, 鈥淲ow, grass, oh, trees鈥�, and things like that. Now I鈥檓 back down here in Antarctica the green world seems to be far, far away.

驰辞耻鈥檝别 applied for Mars One, the effort to colonise the Red Planet by 2025. Why do you want to go?
Becoming an astronaut was always a big dream. I am from Germany and I applied to the European Space Agency in 2008 when they had the last selection, but I didn鈥檛 make the last two rounds. A lot of things have to happen for Mars One to really take place, but why not give it a shot?

Do you think the long periods in Antartica have prepared you for living on Mars?
I know what it is to live in a remote environment where you can鈥檛 just say, 鈥淥h, I forgot that, I鈥檒l just order it or go around the corner and buy it.鈥� Also it鈥檚 a harsh environment psychologically because of the extreme cold and dryness, and the fact that it鈥檚 six months of darkness, six months of light.

How does life at the South Pole compare to living on the International Space Station, in your view?
If something happens, they can jump into their Soyuz spacecraft and be back on Earth in 3 hours. If we lose electricity and can鈥檛 start our backup generators, we鈥檙e kind of doomed: it will take weeks to get a plane down here.

On Mars it might be years until help arrives. As a colonist, how would you cope?
I鈥檓 good at fixing electronic and mechanical stuff. Down here you have to improvise because you have limited resources; you have to come up with solutions with the stuff you have. That will be even harder on Mars.

Does the thought of leaving Earth behind scare you?I would leave laughing and crying, as we say in German. If it happens in 10 years I鈥檒l be 54. That would be an age where I would say, yes, okay, I鈥檓 ready to leave now. I think the best Mars astronaut would be between 60 and 70, because you鈥檇 still be healthy enough to have your wits about you, but you had a life on Earth as well.

What about never seeing your family again?
I am not married. I still have my parents, a brother and nieces. It鈥檚 certainly something you have to consider. Going to Antarctica, you never know what鈥檚 going to happen and you can鈥檛 just fly home. Going to Mars is a step farther because you鈥檙e never going to come back.