All communication between Mars and Earth goes through satellites. Because of the distance, there is a substantial delay. As communication signals travel at the speed of light, this means that it can take between 3 and 22 minutes for the information to reach the other end, so a phone call would not be practical. Fortunately, there would be no limitations to email, texting or 'WhatsApping' with the Mars residents. It'll just take at least 6 minutes for you to get your reply. Both voicemail and video messages are also easily workable options.

The astronauts can use the Internet, but can only surf 'real time' on a number of websites that are downloaded from Earth on the Mars habitat webserver. Every astronaut will have access to his favorite websites that way. Visiting other websites will be a bit impractical because of the delay.

The settlement will be broadcasting images of daily life back to Earth so that everyone can see what the astronauts are up to.

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