Aspiring Martians

What happens to Islam when Earth is no longer beneath your feet?
This episode is the third installment in Aspiring Martians’ January series exploring Religion on Mars, following conversations on Buddhism and Hinduism, and leading into next week’s series finale on Christianity.
Joe is joined by Dr. Reza Aslan, a globally recognized scholar of religion, bestselling author, and public intellectual known for making complex religious history accessible and deeply human. Reza’s work focuses on Islam as a living tradition shaped by debate, migration, interpretation, and history rather than rigid doctrine.
In this conversation, Joe and Reza explore how Islam might function on Mars by first grounding the discussion in its origins — how Islam spread through trade, scholarship, and governance, and how its decentralized authority structure shapes religious decision-making today. They dive into the Five Pillars of Islam and examine how daily prayer, fasting during Ramadan, charity, pilgrimage, and belief itself might adapt on a planet with different days, directions, and environmental constraints.
The episode also explores Islam’s long relationship with astronomy, space, and scientific inquiry, including how Muslim scholars studied Mars centuries before modern telescopes, and how contemporary Muslim-majority nations are actively engaged in space exploration today. Along the way, they unpack why science fiction — especially Dune — draws so heavily from Islamic culture, language, and ideas of power, scarcity, and survival in harsh environments.
Rather than asking whether Islam can “work” on Mars, this episode reframes the question entirely: what does a faith built on adaptability, intention, and community already understand about living meaningfully in extreme places?

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A huge thank you to Reza for joining me on today’s episodeand sharing his incredible intellect and insights, to Nick Thorburn for the stellar theme music, to Ceci Giglio for the incredible graphics, to Jero Squartini for the amazing animations, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the FB group, and to my family for putting up with my incessant Mars ramblings at all hours of the day.

This episode is the second installment in Aspiring Martians’ January series exploring Religion on Mars — and what happens to belief systems when Earth is no longer the center of human life.
There are over 1.2 billion Hindus in the world today. To cover how such a prolific religion has lasted almost 4,000 years and what that future may hold on Mars, Joe is joined by Dr. Subhash Kak, a computer scientist, philosopher of science, and Vedic scholar whose work sits at the intersection of modern science and ancient Indian thought. Dr. Kak has published extensively on artificial intelligence, consciousness, cosmology, and Indian systems of knowledge, and recently co-authored Project Omega, a book exploring what future life across the solar system — including Mars — might realistically look like.
Together, they explore how Hinduism’s vast sense of time, multiple worlds, and non-Earth-centric worldview translate naturally to space exploration. The conversation touches on the four aims of life (dharma, artha, kama, moksha), the role of deities as bridges to deeper philosophical ideas, Vedanta’s influence on modern physics, reincarnation on a cosmic scale, the red planet’s role in Hindu cosmology, how ancient belief systems and modern spaceflight quietly converged with India’s Mars mission, Mangalyaan, and why Hinduism tends to be remarkably comfortable with the idea that humans want to spread out into the cosmos.

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Project Omega: The Future of Life in the Solar System - https://www.amazon.com/Project-Omega-Future-Solar-System/dp/8199391553

A special thank you to Dr. Subhash Kak for joining me today and sharing his insight, to Nick Thorburn for the stellar theme music, to Ceci Giglio for the incredible graphics, to Jero Squartini for the amazing animations, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the FB group, and to my family for letting me talk about Mars all the time.

Season Two of Aspiring Martians begins with a month-long Everyday Mars series exploring religion on Mars — and what happens to faith, meaning, and spiritual life when humans leave Earth.
This first episode focuses on Buddhism, a tradition practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide and rooted in teachings on suffering, impermanence, mindfulness, and compassion. Joe is joined by Bhikkhu Vasu Bandhu, a contemplative teacher working within a modern Buddhist-inspired tradition and a longtime leader in the global interfaith movement.
Vasu Bandhu serves as Interfaith Manager for the Arizona Faith Network, is a member of the International Youth Committee of Religions for Peace, a Global Council Trustee for the United Religions Initiative, and Chair of the North American Interfaith Network. Since the age of 18, he has dedicated his life to interfaith service, eventually joining the Dhammapada Sangha after years of work across diverse religious traditions.
In this conversation, Joe and Vasu Bandhu explore how Buddhist ideas like mindfulness, ethical responsibility, compassion, and acceptance of impermanence could shape spiritual life for future Martians — particularly in environments defined by isolation, confinement, and constant change.
This episode sets the tone for a four-part series that continues next week with Hinduism on Mars, followed by Islam on January 20, and Christianity on January 27.

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A huge thank you to Vasu Bandhu for joining me on today’s episode and sharing his perspective, to Nick Thorburn for the incredible theme music, to Ceci Giglio for the ever playful graphics, to Jero Squartini for the animations, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the FB group, and to my family for being cool with there being another whole year of talking about Mars all the freakin time.

This week, Joe closes the season with an Everyday Mars conversation focused on something every future Martian — and every remote worker — will face: workplace anxiety and occupational health.
To tackle this subject, we're joined by Dr. Craig Jackson, a leading occupational health psychologist whose research examines how work affects human psychological wellbeing, particularly in extreme, remote, and high-stress environments. Their conversation spans decades of research and real-world case studies, including incidents at Antarctic research bases, fatigue and burnout, psychological screening for astronauts and remote workers, and what happens when isolation and pressure compound over time.
They also explore the overview effect, delayed communication, long working hours, and the psychological realities of confined, high-responsibility workplaces — drawing clear parallels between Earth-based analogs and future Mars missions.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode briefly touches on the subject of suicide from 21:00 to 27:20. Please feel free to skip this section if you prefer.
The episode also serves as a moment of reflection and gratitude. It’s a grounded, thoughtful close to a season dedicated to the human stories behind the dream of living on Mars. We are deeply grateful for your engagement and support this past year as we have dived into the lives of aspiring Martians the covered topics that future Mars settlers will be most interested in. We're profoundly excited to show you what's next in Season 2!

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A huge thank you to Dr. Craig Jackson for joining me todayand sharing his expertise and time, to Nick Thorburn for the absolute banger ofa theme song, to Ceci Giglio for the incredible graphics, to RDan, Leila, Inka,and Carl for admining the FB group, and to my family for supporting thisproject — even when Mars becomes a full-time dinner conversation.

Research:
Workplace Anxiety,Isolation, Polar & Extreme Environments
Palinkas, L. A., & Suedfeld, P. (2008)
The Lancet
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17655924/
Palinkas, L. A. (2003)
American Psychologist
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12784972/
Antarctic Harassment& Safety Climate
U.S. National Science Foundation – Office of Polar Programs(July 2024)
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2024/nsf24586/nsf24586.pdf
Suicide Risk, SleepDisruption & Remote Work
Bernert, R. A., et al. (2007)
Sleep Medicine Reviews
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17368981/
Pigeon, W. R., et al. (2020)
Scientific Reports
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70866-6
Fatigue, CircadianMisalignment & Extreme Work
Parkes, K. R. (2017)
Safety Science
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753517300957
Arendt, J., et al. (2022)
Nature and Science of Sleep
https://www.dovepress.com/the-role-of-circadian-phase-in-sleep-and-performance-during-antarctic–peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-NSS
DelayedCommunication, Autonomy & Mars Missions
NASA Ames Research Center (2025)
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20250003885/downloads/NASA%20TM20250003885.pdf
Kanas, N., et al. (2015)
Acta Astronautica
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576514003996
O’Leary, M. B., Wilson, J. M., & Metiu, A. (2014)
Organization Science
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2013.0876
Gibbs, J. L., et al. (2021)
Annual Review of Organizational Psychology andOrganizational Behavior
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-060248
Mars &Spaceflight Analog Missions
Basner, M., et al. (2014)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1403716111
NASA Human Research Program
https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/evidence/
Trauma, IntrusiveMemories & Tetris Studies
Holmes, E. A., et al. (2009)
PLoS ONE
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004153
Overview Effect, Awe& Perspective Shift
Yaden, D. B., et al. (2016)
Psychology of Consciousness
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-17436-001

Hope you're prepared for a conversation that is as honest as it is powerful.
In this week's episode, Joe sits down with Lina Borozdina where she shares what brought her to space aboard Virgin Galactic, but this discussion goes far beyond the mechanics of spaceflight. Together, they explore the emotional reality of chasing a space dream in public and the resilience required to keep going in the face of dismissive, hurtful, and often cruel commentary from those who would rather see that dream disappear.
The conversation also touches on Lina’s deep commitment to inspiring the next generation of kids, the responsibility that comes with visibility, and the quiet strength demonstrated by women who refuse to make themselves smaller, even when the world asks them to.It’s a vulnerable, moving conversation about courage, representation, and choosing to dream anyway.
This episode marks the final personal story of Season One of Aspiring Martians — a season dedicated to exploring the deeply human stories behind people with a very real dream of living on Mars someday. Stay tuned for next week's final episode of Season 1 with an all new Everyday Mars episode you won't want to miss!

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A huge thank you to Lina for joining me today and sharing her story, to Nick Thorburn for the amazing theme music, to Ceci Giglio for the incredible graphics, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the FB group, and to my family for letting me talk about Mars far more often than is probably reasonable.