It takes Dr Gernot Groomer three hours to put on the spacesuit he hopes will, one day, walk across the surface of Mars.
It’s worth taking time when you’re wearing a suit made from roughly 10,000 parts, designed for the most treacherous environment yet to be encountered by a human being.
Groomer is the Austrian astrobiologist responsible for building a spacesuit for the Mars explorers of tomorrow — and he’s taking inspiration from armor worn by medieval knights.
He explains that — after the titanic effort required to get there — simply surviving on the red planet will be a grueling battle.