Transcriber: Leonardo Silva Reviewer: Amanda Chu
On a clear night, I love to look up at the sky
and search for one specific planet.
It looks as small as a dot.
Some of you may call it the red planet or Mars.
I call it home.
My earliest memory was at three years old.
I was watching this cartoon
where these creature friends would go on imaginary adventures in their backyard.
It looked so exciting that I went running to my dad
to find out if people had actually been to Mars.
He told me that men had been to the Moon but not Mars,
but it would be my generation who would go there
and become the Mars generation.
At that moment,
something in my heart got awakened.
Even at three years old,
I realized I was born on planet Earth
with a mission to be one of the first to land on the red planet,
my home.
So, since then, I have dedicated my life to training, learning and teaching.
I am taking all the necessary steps required
and work hard every day in order to make this dream a reality.
My most current achievement is my certification for suborbital flight.
So, this basically means
that I can now cross the line and into space.
So how did I exactly get this achievement?
So, the different trainings that were involved
were microgravity training,
spacesuit training,
decompression training,
water survival,
different research missions,
also classes in space atmosphere, space physiology
and learning how to work all the research equipment.
So these amazing experiences were done through a citizen science program
called "Project PoSSUM,"
and Project PoSSUM stands for
Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere.
So, really complicated.
But their ultimate goal
is actually studying clouds in the upper atmosphere.
So, although they aren't necessarily training people
to go to space or go to Mars,
we still do pretty amazing space-related trainings.
So I'm able to help them with their research
of studying the clouds.
I'm able to help the spacesuit company develop their suits
and make them even more fit,
seeing things like,
how much did the suit leak when we were in the water?
Those kinds of things.
And then, along the way, I can also go into these amazing experiences,
which help launch my dream even further.
The current plans are just start sending humans to Mars in about 15 years.
Some plans are one-way, like Mars One, in the Netherlands,
and some include a return trip.
So we know with the current technology
that it's going to take six months to get there.
Astronauts will then live on the planet for a little over a year,
and then it will take nine months to come back.
So this will be the absolute longest humans have ever been in space
or on a mission.
So what exactly are we even going to be doing on Mars?
Like, why do we even want to go? Like, is it really important?
So, I'm going to tell you why it is.
So, while they are there,
astronauts are going to be adapting
to the new conditions of living on Mars,
they're going to be doing scientific research
and finding out what else they're going to find.
And to get there,
we are building a new rocket and even more new technologies.
So we are building the SLS - Space Launch System Rocket -
and the Orion Capsule,
and these two are currently in development,
and we'll soon start testing to be ready for a mission in the early 2030s.
And living on Mars is going to be very different from living here on Earth.
There are some big differences between our two planets.
You know, think about having to put on a spacesuit
every time you want to go outside,
because there's no oxygen.
Thinking about how the only food you have is what you're growing right over there,
so you hope nothing doesn't pop or no problems happen
because that's your food supply.
So it's a super different world.
There's no oceans and trees and grass and that kind of thing outside we have.
We have rocks and dirt, all colored red.
So it's a very different kind of beauty.
And there are many risks related to going to Mars.
Are you guys are aware of these risks? Because they sound pretty crazy.
There's the radiation levels on the way from Earth to Mars.
There's the lack of oxygen of actually being on the planet.
There is the effects of the body being in microgravity, not being -
You know, there's bone-density loss,
your muscles get weaker because they're not having to fight as much.
Because even though you all are sitting very comfy in some chairs,
your muscles are still working and they're still fighting gravity.
So they're actually still remaining strong and they're still being tough,
whereas in space, you're just floating around.
So they're like, "I don't have to work anymore. This is nice,"
and they just start becoming weaker.
And we know that with our technologies we could terraform Mars
to become another place for us to live,
another point to leave from to explore further into space.
Now, it may sound like a lot of time to terraform Mars,
but think about what we've done so far in the space program.
In only 55 years,
we went from sending the first man into orbit, Yuri Gagarin,
to where we are today.
We have walked on the Moon,
we've had satellites leave our solar system ...
We've sent rovers and probes all over our solar system
and landing on other planets, including Mars.
So think about how our technology is increasing
and what technology we'll have in 20 years.
The mission to Mars may sound like science fiction or an unreachable goal,
but once we achieve it, the universe will open up to us,
and we'll start exploring other worlds.
So, despite all the crazy training and learning about space that I've done,
one of my proudest moments was actually at age 12,
where I sat on a NASA MER-10 panel
to discuss future missions to Mars in the early 2030s.
The other panelists were PhDs and an astronaut.
So, they're some pretty cool people.
So it was really great for them to want to hear from me,
my journey that I have been on,
my dream of going to Mars and exactly how I was going to do that.
So this experience really helped launch my dream even higher.
And since that moment, I have learned many lessons,
but I would like to share three of them with you guys today.
So, one -
This is the panel, by the way.
One: what is your out-of-this-world dream?
Each one of us is born with a special talent,
a unique dream or aspiration.
I'm always surprised to hear that people block these dreams
or give up on their dreams due to fear or worry.
Also to my surprise is the number of adults that look back at their lives
only to wish they had worked to follow their dream from an early age.
My story, my dream, that in 2033 I hope to achieve, is the mission to Mars.
My dream is out of this world, literally.
So what about you?
What is your dream that is out of this world?
And what are you doing to launch your mission?
Two: we are all one.
As part of my training,
I've had the opportunity to travel to 21 countries.
I also attend the Baton Rouge International School,
where I learn all of my subjects in four languages.
I am taught by teachers who are from all over the world
and native to the [language] that they're teaching the subjects in.
So my training has really taught me
that we all have the same hopes, dreams, challenges,
regardless of what country we come from, our backgrounds
or even the language we speak.
We all want to have our needs met,
we all want our families to be healthy and happy.
My training has taught me that we are all global citizens.
We are all humans, and we are all one.
Three:
the importance of believing in and helping others.
I wonder sometimes
what my dad initially thought about my dream of going to Mars.
Did he think of me as another child
who dreams to put on an astronaut suit and go out
and play the backyard adventure I had seen on TV?
One day, I saw him shed tears
when he saw that I had won the Right Stuff Award,
which is the highest award that you can receive at Space Camp.
He told me that he realized at that moment
that nothing would stop me in my quest to go to Mars.
Ever since my earliest memories, he has been my biggest supporter,
and he has been by my side every step of the way.
Because of his belief in me, I am here in front of you today,
and I am very thankful for that.
All I needed was one person to believe in me completely,
which led to all of the incredible people in my life
that are part of this giant step for humankind.
So who has been supporting you with your path?
And what are you doing to support others?
Because we need someone to help support us in our quest for our dreams
and, in return, support somebody else with theirs,
even with something as big as a mission to Mars.
You know, it takes tens of thousands of people
to send one astronaut into space.
We all have the same common goal, we all have the same common dream,
but we must all come together to actually make that dream a reality.
In conclusion,
15 years from today, I will be home,
standing on red sands, looking up at the clear sky,
looking for a little, pale, blue dot,
looking for our planet Earth.
I will be wondering about all of you,
hoping you have continued to cross your boundaries
by believing in your dreams,
by appreciating our human oneness
and by helping others.
Never stop dreaming,
never give up
and never let anyone take your dreams away from you.
This is a time of change,
a time to explore,
a time to evolve
and a time to cross our boundaries for future generations.
I am Alyssa Carson,
call sign "Blueberry,"
and we are the Mars generation.
Thank you.
(Applause) (Cheers)