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A Coventry woman could become the first person to give birth to a Martian baby.

It might sound like the plot of a sci-fi movie but it could be what the future holds for Maggie Lieu, from Tile Hill, if plans to colonise Mars get off the ground.

The 24-year-old will find out next month if she will be one of the first people to make the 140 million mile one-way trip to the Red Planet as part of a project known as Mars One.

She has already made the 600-strong shortlist to make the $6billion trip – down from 200,000 initial applicants – and she would start training this year if she makes the final 40 line-up.

Mothers face challenges everyday here on Earth, but on Mars Maggie would have to contend with temperatures as low as -62, lethal levels of radiation and the dangers of suffocation, starvation and dehydration.

Despite that, the former Tile Hill Wood School pupil says she would be committed to the mission of colonising the planet.

She said: “To start a colony we would have to have children on Mars, eventually it would happen.

“It would be challenging, nobody has done any research on giving birth in a low-gravity environment.

“I think it would be a funny thing because the first child born on Mars would be the first Martian!

“But I don’t think it would be much different to some of the living conditions and relationships people have with their children here on Earth.”

Groups of four are scheduled to leave every two years from 2024 and the former Coventry schoolgirl, now studying astrophysics at Birmingham University, said she was excited by the prospect of the ten-year training programme.

She added that the group would be forced to learn skills ranging from medicine and agriculture to plumbing and electronics as they looked to make the planet their permanent home.

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“Everything we need on Earth we would have to create up there,” she said.

“We would need to grow our own food and create our own oxygen.

“Because there is no magnetic field around Mars the levels of radiation are very high. I believe terraforming would be possible but it would take thousands of years.

“We think five metres of Martian soil could protect us from the sun’s rays – so it’s possible we would live underground.”

Even the prospect of spending the rest of her life millions of miles away from friends and family has not dampened her enthusiasm for the project.

She said: “One of the biggest challenges will be communication. It can take anything between three and 22 minutes just to send a message so we will have to learn how to deal with that.”

She added: “The trip is one way because there are no launch pads on Mars and it would require much more than the $6 billion currently budgeted for the trip to bring us home.

“Another problem is the effect low gravity environments have on the human body. When astronauts from the space station return to Earth they can be practically disabled even though they train every day to lesson the effects.

“They need to learn to walk again, their heart is weakened, muscles shrink and bone density decreases.

“But I believe, at the rate technology is advancing, we will be able to bring people back from Mars one day.

“I’m looking forward to it more now then when I applied because it is beginning to seem more real.”

Watch Maggie talking about the project here: https://community.mars-one.com/profile/8d4e0b3d-7e23-4812-b7ea-bf44ee370007