While the Curiosity rover putters around Mars to find evidence of life, Beemer's motivation is similar: exploration.

Her heart was set on an interplanetary visit since the fateful day her dad showed her a newspaper with a panorama from the Mars Pathfinder's voyage. Since then she's collected backgrounds in chemistry and geology — and leadership experience being an officer in the army, like at Utah's Mars Desert Research Station above — and has conquered every outdoors activity under the sun.

That is, on Earth. "My reasons for going to Mars are very scientific. We have a lot of questions that we can’t really answer by just sending robots to Mars."