Mars Horizon

** Kindle eBook available - for those that want to read along and immerse themselves in the beautiful artwork **

Cosy up and snuggle down, for tonight we explore our inner solar system with Mars Horizon.

You find yourself in what appears to be a huge field. It's flat as far as the eye can see, except for when you turn around, a number of varying size buildings dominate the landscape. There are towers and a large building that connects to a number of smaller buildings around it. To you it looks like a hospital, you know different buildings will help people in different ways. Intrigued, you make your way towards the main building.

Because the building is so large, you miscalculate it's distance from you. It takes a little longer to wander over to it than you thought, but this time allows you to study the place more. You realise what you mistook for towers weren't towers, but intricate scaffolding. You also notice the flags on the buildings. The main building houses lots of different countries' flags as well as another flag you don't recognise. This flag has a space shuttle blasting off what appears to be Earth with a massive smoke trail behind it and heading towards a red planet. You realise you must be at some kind of space agency, and the towers you noticed are the launch pads for rockets that explore our tiny, local part of this vast universe.

Before you know it, you're standing in the atrium of the building you were heading towards. It's a light and spacious lobby that has rockets, spacecraft, rovers, pictures and many more models - exhibiting the history and legacy of this agency. You're impressed and are captivated by all this history which surrounds you. Before you're able to get too lost in your thoughts, you're approached by a soft-smiling person who indicates for you to follow them. Something about their face is familiar, and you are here to complete a mission it seems. Without hesitation, you follow them through the security areas and enter the heart of the building.

As you make your way through the building you notice more pictures of space that you'd never seen before. Some of the missions from this agency have been highly successful it seems, and you're keen to see what your mission will be.

You and your companion finally approach a large door which they unlock with a keycard. Almost like the doors of an elevator, they peel away in layers revealing a huge room with hundreds of desks facing the wall in front which has numerous large screens across its width. You know that this is the beating heart of the agency, the operations centre.

From here, every rocket, shuttle and satellite is launched and the low whirring of the computers' fans, the quiet chatter from the people and the beeps from the various space missions create a sound of determined calm. Everyone knows what they're doing, only talking when they need to confirm or collaborate.

Your guide nods towards the front of the room where a seat has been left for you. You're not sure yet what you're supposed to do, but you walk towards the desk and take a seat. With a tap of a button your screens come to life and takes you directly into a program that has some simple maths equations. A little bit of addition, some subtraction as well as some fractions pop up on screen. You answer nearly all the questions perfectly, only miscalculating one of the fractions. But it's ok and it doesn't stop you from getting to the next screen. You turn to look at your guide, but they're gone. There is no-one sitting either side of you, so you decide to continue exploring the program which brings up a pop-up message.
"Welcome to the Checkpoint Space Agency. Today we will launch a satellite that will travel across our solar system to study Haumea (Ho-ME-Ah), a dwarf planet on the edge of our solar system," the message reads. Your eyes light up. You remember this planet from looking at space books when you were very small with your parents. You remember its potato-like shape and its red eye. You remember wondering what it would be like to sit on the edge of the solar system looking back at the sun and all the planets in-between.

"To proceed, please press ENTER. You will be required to solve some puzzles to help the on-board computers learn how to solve them in case they have problems in space."
You press ENTER and the screen goes black for a second or two before flickering back to life. On the screen you can see a number of objects that need to placed into containers of a similar shape and size. Much like the shape blocks you played with when you were younger, you have to fit the right shape into the right hole. At first it's quite simple, but as you progress through the program the shapes get more complicated and colours are also introduced. Your work will hopefully aide in the success rate of the mission as the computers will be able to identify more complicated shapes and colours thanks to your input. You have to concentrate more than you thought you needed to, but you enjoy the challenge and soon find your rhythm with very few errors.

As you work away, you can see on one of the screens the launch and operations team preparing the launchpad and rocket for your mission scheduled for later that day.

Suddenly, there is a cheer from the far part of the operations centre. One of the teams, the European Space Agency, has been working for months on a satellite orbiting the sun. They have just successfully completed a full orbit of the sun. It's the first time any agency has achieved this. You look over briefly to the team high-fiving and hugging. You hope your input will help the Checkpoint Space Agency be as successful as the solar orbiter team, but you know your mission could be more perilous and will take a lot longer to reach Haumea, being so far away and on the edge of our solar system. Inspired by the success of the other team, you work harder than you've worked before trying to connect the shapes and colours to their relevant places.

After what seems to be just a few minutes, the program ends. You've completed the exercise and the on-board computer system now has all the information it needs to successfully make its way through the solar system. A notification comes up on the screen thanking you for your time and informing you that your input had increased the chances of success of the mission by 35%. This may not seem like much to you, but it's a significant increase and you only realise how significant it is when you finally look away from the screen and see the rest of the Checkpoint team looking at your screen and clapping, thanking you for your time and knowledge. You feel a sense of pride and an incredible feeling of achievement.

You check back on the wall-mounted screen of your mission's launchpad and notice the preparations for the launch of your mission have been completed. You've always wanted to see a rocket launch. You look towards the rest of the team. They know what you're thinking and nod in approval. You respond with a thankful smile and make your way out of the mission control room and through the building to the exit nearest to the launchpad.

You step out into the early dusk, it's been hours since you first entered the building and had no idea how long you'd been working on the program that will help your mission. It's still warm and the sky looks as though it's painted with broad strokes of orange, purple and dark blue. You can see the rocket being prepared for launch and find a hillock to sit and watch it from a safe distance. Leaning back against a tree and on a patch of the softest moss you make yourself comfortable. You know you won't have to wait long before it takes off into the ever-darkening night sky.

As you finally settle, you can hear the cou...