Chapter 1: Arrival at Mars

As the retrograde rockets roared intermittently, they guided the spaceship gently towards the Mars orbiter station. The cabin filled with a long whoosh as the pressure normalized, and Commander Jack Miller unbuckled his harness. Eager to begin his three-month stay at Base Phoenix, nestled beneath the Martian surface, he made his way towards the airlock.

After four months confined in a spaceship, Jack was excited for more space to move around. This journey was significantly shorter than the nine-month odyssey of the 2020s. Advances in ion drive technology had propelled them to Mars much faster than traditional chemical rockets. The electromagnetic iodine ion thruster gradually built up impressive speeds by expelling positively charged ions at high velocity.

Launching from the Moon had also facilitated the application of ion drives for interplanetary travel, as the Moon's weaker gravity required less fuel to escape its gravitational pull. However, upon reaching Mars, the spacecraft needed to decelerate. The thin Martian atmosphere could not provide sufficient friction to slow the craft, so the ship carried a mixture of hydrogen, kerosene, and oxidizer to fire its rockets and adjust to the station's orbital speed.

Despite being part of the team that developed the ion drive, Jack found himself increasingly frustrated. Although Earth could send him and his crew to Mars in just four months, it struggled to lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. In 2050, nations had pledged to achieve zero carbon emissions, yet the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii continued to record rising levels.

To combat this issue, international agreements needed to evolve into practical, enforceable solutions. This could include implementing a carbon pricing system, enforcing stricter regulations on industrial emissions, and promoting renewable energy sources. The G20 nations, responsible for the majority of historical carbon emissions, had both the means and the responsibility to make significant changes.

Jack felt skeptical about the likelihood of world leaders making effective choices for the planet. A shift in public consciousness was necessary, moving from self-interest to collective responsibility.

Suddenly, an announcement broke through his thoughts, signaling that the crew was cleared to enter the Mars orbiter station. They were required to rest before the descent; although the station was unmanned and automated, the descent still posed potential risks. The crew joked about needing to sleep right after arriving on Mars, but their training had prepared them for the importance of rest.

Once inside his sleeping cell, Jack secured himself, yet his mind raced with excitement. He reflected on his work back in Houston, which was both challenging and fulfilling. Memories of school visits flooded his mind, where children eagerly listened to tales of rocket launches.

"Captain Jack! What’s it like to sit in a rocket with 400 tonnes of hydrogen fuel when it ignites?" a student had asked.

"Imagine the fastest ride you've ever experienced at a carnival. This is a hundred times faster!" Jack had responded, always ready with pictures to share.

The children posed intriguing questions, such as, "Will your ship travel at light speed, sir?"

Jack replied, "Great question! Does anyone know what light is?"

A young boy eagerly raised his hand, "It's what shines on my birthday cake from all the candles!"

"Exactly! And how old are you?"

"I'm 7 years old."

"That's a fantastic age!" Jack smiled at the class.

Curiously glancing at the young teacher, he asked, "And how old do you think Miss Smith is?"

A girl piped up, "110 years old!"

"That might be true!" Jack chuckled, eliciting laughter from the room.

Jack shifted the conversation back to science. "Now, let's talk about the speed of light."

"Photons!" one student called.

"Energy waves!" chimed in another.

"Both correct! Light travels as a particle and a wave, always in motion. It moves at around 300,000 kilometers per second. Unfortunately, our ship won't reach that speed. If it did, we'd arrive in just a few hours, but anything with mass can't travel at light speed."

He explained Einstein’s theory of special relativity: "As the spaceship speeds up, its mass increases. Light, being energy, has no mass, enabling it to reach such incredible speeds."

Jack pondered if this was too complex for the young minds before him. Yet he recalled that even discussing dinosaurs would capture their attention.

"Any other questions?" Jack inquired.

An eight-year-old raised his hand, "Do electrons orbit atoms like planets orbit the sun? Are there galaxies inside atoms?"

"Those are profound questions!" Jack smiled. "Regarding galaxies inside atoms, we don't know yet. We need physicists to explore that. But electrons don't orbit in a defined path; they create a cloud-like appearance around the nucleus, moving too fast to pinpoint their exact location."

"One last question before recess?" he asked, glancing at Miss Smith.

A girl in the front row asked, "When did the Big Bang happen?"

"Another excellent question! Scientists estimate it occurred about 13.8 billion years ago, based on cosmic microwave background radiation. It was more of an expansion than an explosion, with the universe expanding uniformly."

Just then, the recess bell rang, and Miss Smith thanked Captain Jack on behalf of the students. As Jack left with a group of children trailing behind, he promised to return after his Mars mission.

"Have a safe journey, Jack," Miss Smith said, and he smiled, thinking of his work on Earth, the students, and her, as he drifted off to sleep in orbit around Mars.

Chapter 2: The Speed of Light and Beyond

The first video, titled "Big Bang or Steady State? Wrong Question! (Variable Speed of Light Cosmology)," explores the nuances of cosmic theory and the implications of light speed.

The second video, "The Big Bang's Speed of Light Problem," delves into the paradoxes of light speed in relation to the universe's expansion.