Where do we come from? It’s a question as old as consciousness itself, born from the same curiosity that first made us look up at the night sky and wonder what lay beyond our world. In Out of This World and Into the Next, SA physicist and quantum biologist Adriana Marais traces how life began, why humans are driven to explore and what living beyond Earth might teach us about taking better care of our planet.
“I was born with the urge to explore,” Marais says. Curiosity, she believes, is part of what makes us human. “Studying physics was a way to understand reality. A lot of people think quantum mechanics is far removed from everyday life, but understanding the universe is one of the most human things we can do.”
Born in King William’s Town, now Qonce, Eastern Cape, she studied theoretical physics before moving into quantum biology, a field that explores how quantum effects operate in living organisms. For her PhD she examined how photosynthesis and magnetoreception in birds rely on quantum processes, suggesting that life itself may depend on quantum coherence. Her work bridges physics and biology to study life’s origins and show how molecules might communicate through quantum resonance.
“Physics can describe many things, but it still cannot explain life itself,” she says. “The mystery of how we came to exist in the universe is what drives me. Space exploration is about the adventure of finding out.”
Marais describes herself as “more afraid of boredom than of dying”, which explains her willingness to sign up for a one-way mission to Mars. Mars One, the privately funded project that aimed to send civilians to colonise the red planet, selected her as one of 100 finalists out of 200,000 applicants. “We went through interviews and psychological screening, and I truly believed it could happen,” she says. Those hopes were shattered when Mars One went bankrupt, but she has no regrets.
That same drive led her to Africa2Moon, an initiative of the Foundation for Space Development Africa, founded by Dr Carla Sharpe. Scheduled for launch to the lunar south pole in 2029 in partnership with China, it will be Africa’s first mission to the Moon.
“SA has a long, underrecognised history in space science,” she says, referring to the establishment of Deep Space Station 51 by Nasa in 1961 near Johannesburg, which later became the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) after Nasa’s withdrawal in the 1970s. Now a hub for radio astronomy and space geodesy, HartRAO laid the groundwork for SA’s role in the Square Kilometre Array, one of the world’s most ambitious radio telescopes.
She hopes the continent will eventually be able to use space science to develop off-grid systems for local communities.
She began writing Out of This World and Into the Next in 2016, soon after Elon Musk announced his plan to make humans a multiplanetary species. At first, it was a way of collating what she had learnt through physics, biology and her growing involvement in space advocacy. “I wanted to trace how life might have started here, how it spread, and what that means for living elsewhere,” she says. “I wanted to share a sense of wonder without making it inaccessible. Science isn’t beyond anyone’s reach. We can all understand the basics of how the world works.”
The book begins with the origins of life. “Before we can imagine life elsewhere, we need to understand how it started here,” she says. “Life on Earth began and survived under brutal conditions of heat, radiation, pressure, ice and darkness, not so different from what we might find on Mars or on the frozen oceans of moons like Europa and Enceladus.”
Marais argues that preparing for life beyond Earth can make us live more sustainably here. “Almost every technology we use in space, from recycling every drop of water and producing energy to cultivating crops, creating oxygen and managing heat in confined habitats, has proved just as valuable on Earth,” she explains. “Solar power, advanced water systems and precision farming were first developed or refined for astronauts. Closed-loop technologies for recycling resources, producing food and filtering air also grew out of the demands of space missions.” These same systems, she says, are what we will need to survive the climate crisis.
Marais founded Proudly Human in 2019, a nonprofit dedicated to exploring how people can live and work in extreme environments. Its flagship Off World Project tests survival systems in deserts, polar regions and underwater habitats that mimic conditions on Mars and the Moon.
“We’ve scouted sites in Namibia, Antarctica and Oman,” she says. “The goal is to build self-sufficient communities from scratch, using local materials and renewable energy. What we learn about teamwork, resource use, mental health and resilience can help people on Earth living under tough conditions.”
She also spent months alone in the Karoo to experience scarcity firsthand. “Living in isolation teaches you what really matters,” she says.
For Marais, ethics is a starting point. “We cannot repeat colonial patterns in space,” she insists. “We need to ask who decides how resources are used, who benefits and who gets left out. Ethical space exploration means collaboration, not domination. We need to ensure all regions, including Africa, have a voice in the future we build beyond Earth.”
She imagines off-world societies as small, diverse and deeply co-operative. “When you live off Earth, you depend completely on the group. You cannot afford political division or wasteful systems,” she says. “That is why I find off-world living fascinating. It could help us rethink community on Earth too. You need engineers, scientists, artists, teachers — a full ecosystem. Leadership will have to be transparent and based on merit, not ego or ideology.”
Technology is a big challenge. “We still have not managed a controlled landing of heavy cargo on Mars,” she says. “We need reliable systems for producing water and fuel there, like extracting water from ice and splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen. Radiation protection is another hurdle. One idea is to build habitats underground or inside natural lava tubes. The technology exists in parts, but we have not yet brought it all together.”
Some reviewers have described her book as more philosophical than technical. “That’s true; it’s not an engineering manual. It’s a book about why we explore, not just how. Science and philosophy have always gone together. The book moves from the origins of life to the future of civilisation because that is how I think. It’s not a textbook.”
She has also faced sharper criticism. “Any work that challenges assumptions will get mixed reviews,” she says. “Some readers want hard data, others want stories. I tried to bridge those worlds. The book is not trying to sell a fantasy. It’s showing that exploration is deeply human and that we can approach it ethically and intelligently.”
People often ask her why we should spend money on space when there are so many problems on Earth. “Exploration and innovation are what keep us moving forward,” she says. “Space research drives progress in energy, communication, health and materials science. Satellites are vital for weather forecasting, disaster response, navigation, communication, environmental monitoring and even global finance.”
