Hi! My name is Jake, and I am addicted to space.

It might be a little late for me to become an astronaut, but I have a passion for science, engineering, space travel and exploration. So while I probably won't be riding a rocket to the space station anytime soon, I still want to find a way to share the incredible things happening beyond Earth's atmosphere, and specifically, on my favourite planet - Mars.

Mars is one of the most compelling destinations for exploration we have. It's a rich scientific target that can teach us about how the Earth formed, and as a nearby planet, is not out of reach for human exploration. Exploring Mars would allow humanity to push its engineering mettle to its limits, and would unlock the boundaries of science in our search for the origins of life and our solar system. So, I created a podcast about it.

In the past year, I've been lucky to speak with some incredible Martian guests. Joe Cassady from Aerojet Rocketdyne taught us about Solar Electric Propulsion. Morgan Irons from Deep Space Ecology showed us a new model to create closed ecological systems on Mars. We covered the ExoMars launch and arrival at the Red Planet with Nicolas Thomas, and we even spoke with the entire crew of NASA's HI-SEAS IV, who spent a year in a simulated Mars habitat to study crew dynamics. It's been a heck of a ride!

However, running a podcast is not without costs. Between podcast and website hosting fees, domain and email costs, and equipment to produce the show, dollars can add up. That's where you can help. By funding me at as little as $1/month you can support these operational costs. What's more, is that with increased funding I can pay for special events, like travelling to conferences or launches and producing supplemental content.

We Martians don't ever want to stop exploring. Become a Martian today to help keep this journey to Mars going!