Imagine it is 2052, years in the future. You want to emigrate to Mars, where you think your future lies. In 2052 this is possible.

I would like to see a future, where humanity leaves her cradle and makes extraterrestrial colonies on Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt, et cetera. On Earth ExTerra Emigration Offices [ETE Offices] control the stream of colonists. In the European Union one ETE emerges, Earth Mars Travel [EMT], as part of the European Space Agency. Earth Mars Travel.com is the official website of EMT, a place where you can find everything about moving to Mars.

Don't forget to visit the 2002-2052 Archive, a site where I have attempted to think up a possible future, the foundation of this website. The timeline starts in 2002 and we are now in so a lot can happen before 2052.

Background
I'm currently and when I was 14 I saw a book called Red Mars in my local library. It was the first part of Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars Trilogy. I only read the first chapter, but somehow it touched a chord: first I made a small comic about a manned mission to Mars [see below]. After that I wrote down a possible future of Mars colonization, where Mars was terraformed. Mars got a sea and the landarea was divided into colonies of various Terran countries. Wars were inevitable and pieces of land were divided by the winners.

Then 2 years later I began reading the trilogy again but unfortunately the last part wasn't [and still isn't] translated into Dutch. I was thrilled about the two first books, but unhappy because of the missing last part. I wasn't good enough in reading English at the time.

In 2001 I started studying Geology at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. I chose Geology because I thought I could possibly do something with Mars, which was true: I'm currently almost finished with my geology studies, majoring in Planetary Geology, investigating a region on Mars. In 2001 I bought the whole Mars Trilogy in English. As a reaction I began to think about a project where I could mix all the things I like: making websites, working with 3D [I had done the first year of engineering and came in contact with 3D software], writing and of course Mars. Working on this website is one of my extra-curricular activities, especially in my first year of studying. The second year of my studies I put most of my time another website: Lamme Apen.com, which is in Dutch.

I didn't want EMT to take place in the Mars Trilogy future so I made up my own events and persons. The project now consists of the EMT website and an archive functioning as background. I hope to work on it for a long time [maybe till 2052?]. I also hope people of my generation will start walking the Moon, the Red Planet and other places in the Solar System.

In 2052 a company like Earth Mars Travel hopefully becomes a reality. ExTerra Emigration will become big business, opening the new frontier for [still a small portion of] humanity. Hopefully we stop reproducing ourselves in the same rate as nowadays, and hopefully new technologies will, at that time, be developed allowing more and more people to leave the Earth.

A comic I made about the first manned mission to Mars [in Dutch]