Rachel explained that a lot of the research on the International Space Station is in the service of preparing for human space-flight to Mars. These talks, both by women working for NASA, offer two perspectives on our relationship with Mars. Astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz suggests the possibility of humans on Mars provides an opportunity for us to appreciate all the Earth has to offer. Engineer Nagin Cox operate the rovers we have exploring Mars, and has learned to talk about time in a whole new way- because she lives on Martian time.
Stellar astronomer and TED Senior Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, searching for places in the universe that could support life. So it's worth a listen when she asks us to think carefully about Mars.
Nagin Cox is a first-generation Martian. As a spacecraft engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cox works on the team that manages the United States' rovers on Mars. But working a 9-to-5 on another planet -- whose day is 40 minutes longer than Earth's -- has particular, often comical challenges.
