Starting a Colony on Mars

1) Radiation shielding - the levels of radiation on Mars (from outer space) are lethal, so some means of protecting the crew is needed.

2) Water - water exists on Mars - we need to find ways of collecting and using it.

3) Food - we need to be able to grow food there - probably in greenhouses.

4) ISRU - In Situ Resource Utilization - we need to be able to get the materials we need to build houses, etc., from what we find on the surface of Mars.

5) Research - we need to do a lot of research to determine the long term effects of living on Mars - for instance what is the effect of living with Mars' reduced gravity.

6) Transportation - we need a relatively cheap means of getting to Mars and back, both for humans and cargo.

7) Power - we need to generate our own electricity on Mars.

You can find one point of view about colonizing Mars at:

http://www.marssociety.org/

Most of what we need to colonize mars we also need to colonize the Moon, which is why NASA is planning to go there first, and build an outpost. Hopefully, by the time you're my age (49) living on the Moon will be almost routine, and we'll be heading to Mars.

Good luck.

ps - Don't put your email address on the Internet.

What about O₂?? I know that Mars has an atmosphere of sorts, but is it breathable? I guess if we can find enough H₂O and have enough power, we could generate our own oxygen by electrolysis.

Bill

The Martian atmosphere is about 95% CO₂ and has a pressure of only 0.8KPa, compared to about 101KPa here on earth. So, there's not enough air to breath, and if you could breath it, it would be poisonous. One way to recover O₂ might be to use pumps to pressurize a greenhouse with Martian air, and then use specially bred plants or bacteria to convert it to oxygen.

I didn't realize that Martian air pressure was that much less than on earth. I would bet that we could create a form of bacteria which would just LOVE to take all that CO₂, and convert it into O₂ for us... and if we were lucky, it might be sturdy enough to withstand the temperature extremes. I would also think that Martian gravity would allow a much higher air pressure than it currently has... maybe not 101 KPa, but enough to allow us to breath it (once we got enough O₂ into it). I would bet that a higher air pressure might also help moderate the temperature extremes also. Now if we could get some nitrogen into it... Hey!! this is beginning to sound close to home.

Bill

Thats good advice from bhankiii. Look up "terraforming mars" on google. I had a quick look and it may be what you're interested in.

Great project!. Perhaps what you find out about being self sufficient on Mars will help us solve our problems on earth. Or wouldn't it be great if we could fix our situation here before we move onto other planets, so that we don't "Easter Island" our own earth. After all, we've got a fabulous planet here, why consider moving to somewhere that is almost the equivalent of setting up a tent at the top of Mt. Everest? The human spirit never stops wanting to trash it's own nest and move on to the next place......

Man will self implode proir to exploring exterior planet dwellings.They have proved thier own self worth is worth thier own selfishness.

Nice thoughts,reality bites.

I for one would long to sail through Rho Oph.

social engineering,learn to get along

recently a nasa female scientists attacked another female scientist for being with her

boyfriend another already married astronaut

not good for extended space journies!!!