Dream Home On Mars!
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What is a home? I know it’s a basic question, but believe me, everyone would have a different perspective of looking at the same thing. I tried asking people what do they feel when they utter the word “Home”.
A home is the only sacred place one can find in the entire cosmos — that’s the first individual’s way of looking.
If there is comfort in this world then surely it’s behind those cozy walls that you call home — that’s the second individual’s way of perceiving the same thing.
A home is a place that is incomplete when you’re not around, even if it’s full of furniture, paintings hanging on the walls, majestic view, and breathtaking architecture. It’s where you’re without an instinct to strive for survival. — that’s the third person’s way of answering the same question.
I liked all the three different perspectives of different people that become one once they enter the human mind. None of them was wrong. They were all right!
And when I asked them what are their views about having a home on Mars, all the three of them just stared at me as if I’m talking about some forbidden knowledge. What?… that’s the answer, wrapped up in the form of a question I got.
“Are you serious?” I got the second reply after a break of a few seconds, right after the first question. I was silent. Any sane man would. But I was one-hundred-and-one-percent serious.
Let’s show them how serious you and me are……
What would be your reaction when you’re told that your dream home is not on earth but another planet? It’s so remote — that’s what you think, right?
But not anymore! Believe me!
What would be your reaction when you’re told to live in a cocoon just like a silkworm? It’d be uncomfortable, that’s what you are thinking — right?
If I say it would be more comfy and luxurious than your home on earth, would you change your mind? You don’t believe me. I know….That’s why we’ve decided to take you directly on the surface of Mars, and show you practically, instead of giving a theoretical explanation.
Let’s take a giant leap to Mars. Don’t worry we won’t waste your time. We’ll be traveling at the speed of light, “at least in this article”.
Our journey starts from here…
Mars Homes
There are certain companies that want you to step out of your comfort zones and come with them on a journey to a new destiny — Mars! These companies have designed shells, that you’ll call home in the future, once you’re out there on the rocky planet. Believe me, these aren’t ordinary homes. They’re far better than your one-bedroom apartment, or a two-bedroom apartment, or a three.
Here’s the first one….
NASA’s 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge
NASA had started a competition for building habitat for Mars. Teams were organised to compete among themselves for creating the most reliable structure, that would withstand the extreme conditions on the red planet. An award was to be given for the best design. There were ten teams selected, out of which one team was selected as the winner. The team that was selected is:
MARSHA Project
It’s the brainchild of AI Space Factory. You can imagine how much NASA liked this project that it awarded the project a $0.5 million. There was not just a single way of judging, but there were multiple criteria requirements instead, on which the models were to be judged like material to be used, durability, airtightness, and much more. And guess what, MARSHA was the best suitable option in every eligibility criteria amongst many companies competing for this award.
The cocoon shaped home is the advanced version of any home present on earth. It’s designed according to utility. It has multiple floors made from material like basalt and bioplastic.
- Ground floor — is the entrance and has laboratories.
- First Floor — houses the kitchen and a dry lab.
- Second Floor — contains bathroom, sleeping pods, and hydroponics — that is necessary for both food and oxygen.
- Third Floor — is to be used for recreational activities.
Advantages of the material used in MARSHA
- Basalt is super strong. In addition to this, it’s simpler to produce. Basalt fiber can be extracted from Martian rock and renewable bioplastic (polylactic acid, or PLA). This recyclable polymer composite was better than any other material and it outperformed concrete in NASA’s durability, strength, and crush testing.
- Plastics can shield from cosmic radiation (because they’ve got a low atomic weight).
- It’s non-toxic as it’s a bioplastic.
- PLA is an example of in-situ manufacture. In addition to this, it can be recycled.
- PLA is known for its low conductivity and basalt is an effective insulator. So, it can shield from harmful radiations.
- PLA is dimensionally stable.
- Indirect natural light from the large water-filled skylight and the presence of windows while still keeping the crew safe from harmful solar and cosmic radiation are unique features.
- Material testing was performed for this project, including direct hits from heavy balls to simulate accidents and sustaining around 49,000 pounds of force to test overall strength and durability against extreme weather conditions.
TERA Project
Welcome to another project by the same company — AI Space Factory. It’s another version of earlier MARSHA Project. The recycled materials from MARSHA are to be used to build TERA. The project was being funded as a crowded funded project. This double storey TERA future home was an Airbnb in which humans could actually live.
The two floors are divided into:
- Ground Floor — it’s to serve as a living area. In addition to this, it has a bathroom, a foldable seating place, and a food preparation area.
- First floor — next floor in this futuristic Mars home consists of a sleeping area, an area for gathering — this floor is connected by a wooden staircase.
How these projects would be built on Mars?
— with the help of robots. The company believes in sending two rovers in advance before the actual astronauts. These rovers would be sent in a rocket: the first one would gather and process the materials for the 3D printing, while the second one would print the habitat.
The robots by themselves will construct the habitat and make it ideally pressurised and fill it with an earth-like atmosphere, before the arrival of the actual humans.
Why Mars?
I know this was the first question that entered your mind when we were discussing MARSHA and TERA projects. Let’s clear the doubts. We’ve chosen Mars for its similarities with earth.
Similarities
- The axial tilt of the red planet is the same as the earth which is approximately 25.19° whereas the tilt of the earth is over 23°.
- A single day on Mars is just 44 mins longer than our earth— (Earth takes approximately 23h 56m and 4 s to complete a rotation (0.997 Earth days), whereas Mars takes approximately 24 hours and 40 minutes)
- Similar mineral composition
- Both the planets have similar physical features like mountains, deserts, volcanoes, trenches, canyons, and other similar landforms.
- water is present in poles and to some extent in its depths too.
Conditions necessary for the survival of humans
Air
Mars has a trace amount of gases that are important for human survival like oxygen. In addition to this, gases like nitrogen and Argon are hard to separate from each other.
Scientists have proposed Argox( a mixture of argon and oxygen. It’s also used as an argon breathing gas mixture in scuba diving) as an alternative.
Another option proposed for the air to be used for breathing is amine bread carbon dioxide scrubbers — the equipment absorbs carbon dioxide and it filters astronauts’ air.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Mars consists of various gases like carbon dioxide, argon, and nitrogen in the percentage of 95, 1.9, and 1.9 respectively. In addition to these, there are traces of oxygen and water.
Water
There is water on Mars not flowing in the form of rivers as can be seen on earth. Radar data and soil samples have confirmed the presence of water beneath Mars’ surface.
Another source of water is the presence of ice on Martian poles especially in the polar ice caps of Planum Boreum on the northern pole and Planum Australe on the southern pole of Mars.
Food
Red planet’s surface is not good for growing crops naturally. Despite this, there is a region called Nili Patera, a dune field located in the crater of Syrtis Major volcano, which is an ancient volcano. It has basalt and minerals.
Nili Fossae trough on the Martian surface is already dear to scientists as the crust is believed to date back when Mars had water like earth. High exposure of olivine, a magnesium iron silicate, is there in Nili Fossae. It was in 2008, when NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed the rocks at Nili Fossae contain carbonate minerals.
Other minerals that were found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter include hydrated silica, aluminum smectite, kaolinite group minerals, iron/magnesium smectite, and iron oxides. Recently, the scientists at NASA have found that Nili Fossae is the source of plumes of methane, raising the question of whether this source originates from biological sources.
Macronutrients found on Mars — Carbon, Hydrogen, Potassium, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Sulphur.
Micronutrients detected on Mars — Iron, Molybdenum, Manganese, Zinc, Copper, Boron, Chlorine.
Alternatives of farming
Vegetarian — for growing plants we may use hydroponics farming — without the use of soil and water — with the use of Rockwool slabs made from basalt(available on Mars). These plants can grow upto many metres in height eg., 15m height in case of tomatoes in a closed environment.
Non-vegetarian — with the absence of livestock it’ll be difficult to have meat. But don’t worry, we do have another option — Cultured Meat.
It involves assembling cells harvested from live animals into a tiny piece of muscle tissue. It’s also called lab-grown, clean, or cultivated meat, as it is grown in a lab from animal cells. Cultured meat has an added advantage as it consumes less water, uses less land, and produces much less pollution. Moreover, there is no need to slaughter the animals.
Do you still believe survival on Mars would be difficult?
— I agree, it’d be different from earth, but not impossible.
When the 86 billion neurons in our brain feel relaxed — it means we are at home. Home becomes complete with the presence of humans. It’s humans that give it a life. It breathes through humans. When they are not around, it becomes dull. And for Mars, it has remained dull from the past millions of years, human presence would transform it into a paradise, and it would soon be regarded as a home…..
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