LIVING ON MARS

Living on Mars
1. Earth and Mars
2. Why would we want to
live on Mars?
3. The challenges of living
on Mars
4. What will we need, and
how can we get all these
things?
5. Health & Fitness
6. Terraforming

Earth and Mars

Deimos
Luna

Phobos

Radius:

12746km

Gravity:

1g

6805km
0.38g

Earth and Mars

Earth

Mars

Distance from Sun

150Gm (1AU)

228Gm (1.5AU)

Atmosphere

101.3kPa
78% N2
21% O2
1% Ar

0.6kPa
95% CO2
3% N2
2% Ar

Temperature

185 331K
Mean: 287K (14C)

133 293K
Mean: 210K (-63C)

Length of solar day

24h

1 sol = 24h 40m

Length of year

365.25d

668.6 sols (1.88y = 687d)

Axial tilt

23.4

25.2

Mars receives only 43% of the sunshine that Earth does, but
has no magnetosphere or ozone layer to block radiation.

Why would we want to

live on other worlds?
Survive asteroid impacts.
Population growth.
Develop many new
technologies & systems.
Develop a global view of
Earth.
For the challenge and
adventure!
Why not?

But why Mars?

Mars is by far our best choice
for colonisation:

Close to Earth (and asteroids)

Warmth and light
Length of day
Has seasons like Earth
Resources atmosphere, water,
metals
Potential for terraforming

The challenges of
living on Mars
Cold

Very thin and toxic atmosphere

Water frozen solid
High radiation

Low gravity
Long way from home
No shops

What will we need to

live on Mars?
Physical needs:
Water
Air
Food
Warmth
Sunshine
Clothing
Buildings

Technological needs:

Electricity
Materials
Tools
Computers &
communications
Vehicles & fuel
Robots

Water

Plenty of water, frozen.

But: Very cold ice is harder than rock very hard to dig.
Solution: Heat up the ground, cause ice to sublimate, and capture the
steam.
Also: Recycle.

Air
Earth: 20% O2, 80% N2
Can make air like this on
Mars!
N2 from Mars atmosphere
O2 from:
CO2
H2O
Fe2O3, SiO2, etc.
Recycle using plants
(photosynthesis)

Food
Mars dirt is not suited for
life (yet).

Food grown in sealed

greenhouses.
Hydroponics growing
plants without dirt.
Aquaponics fish farming
combined with hydroponics.
Chickens & eggs

Clothing, etc.
Hemp ultra-useful plant

Cloth
Canvas for shoes, bags, etc.
Rope
Lubricants, paint, plastics
Hemp oil nutritional supplement,
skin cream

Later: cotton, synthetics

Eventually: wool & leather

Buildings
Low gravity & thin air means
less material.
Biggest problem radiation.
Surface structures pile dirt on
the roof.
Underground protection from
radiation, and easier to keep
warm (but need big machines to
dig).
Domes Glass or plastic,
maybe inflatable.

Materials
Iron & steel
Need for many things:
buildings, tools, kitchen items,
furniture, vehicles, robots, etc.
Mars is covered in iron
Make steel using carbon from
atmosphere

Many other metals available

on Mars.
Can also make bricks,
concrete, glass and plastics
from local resources.

Electricity
Nuclear: problematic on
Earth, even worse on Mars.
Also, would have to find
uranium.
Solar: possible, but less
sunlight on Mars.
Wind! Lots of wind on Mars;
the air is thin, but highspeed.

Vehicles & Fuel

What sort of vehicles?
Pressurized rovers
ATVs (quad bikes)
Gliders, planes,
balloons
Rockets, spaceships
Walking rovers

Good fuel: methane (CH4) & oxygen (O2) easy

to make from Mars atmosphere and water.

Robots
Will play a big part in
colonising Mars.
Digging, mining,
construction, exploration,
transportation.
Electronics from Earth.
Bodies could be imported
from Earth, or made on Mars
from steel and other metals.

What will we need to

bring from Earth?
Life support equipment

Electronics, computers &

communications gear
Robots, machinery, motors,
tools
Solar panels, windmills

Seeds, animals
Cooking equipment
Games, books, musical
instruments

Health & Fitness

Low gravity means loss of bone
and muscle.
Need lots of strength training.

High radiation increases risk of

cancer & genetic mutation.
Stay inside during solar flares.

Air, food & water probably

better than Earth!
Build parks to play in, and to
provide sunshine (artificial or
real)

Sport on Mars!
Rock-climbing,
abseiling
Hang-gliding
Rover racing
Gliding, ballooning
Flying with wings!
Snow sports

Terraforming
Making Mars environment hospitable to organisms from Earth.

Warming Mars
Create global warming using
PFCs (perfluorocarbons) a
powerful greenhouse gas.
Use mirrors in space to
reflect more sunlight onto
Mars.
Heating Mars causes frozen
CO2 to sublime, thickening
atmosphere and causing
more warming a runaway
greenhouse.

Adding Nitrogen
To make a thick atmosphere like Earth, need lots
of nitrogen. Some on Mars, but probably not
enough.
Can get more N2 from Venus or Titan. Venus
closer, but Titan easier.
Venus:

Titan:

96.5% CO2

98.4% N2

3.5% N2

1.6% CH4

Adding Life
With warmth & liquid water, life can grow.

Biosphere develops with climate, from polar/alpine

towards temperate/tropical.
Genetic engineering.

Building a Biosphere
1. Begin with some hardy radiation- and coldresistant microbes.
2. As lakes form, add aquatic plants these
convert the atmo to oxygen. Water provides
protection from UV.
3. Aquatic animals.
4. Rising oxygen levels cause an ozone (O3) layer to
form, providing UV protection on land.
5. Plants on land, then animals.
6. Eventually humans can walk around on Mars
without a spacesuit.

Robot Gardeners!
Robots will be much
more advanced in 100
years.
They can plant seeds in
the best spots, and look
after the plants and
animals.

Whos making plans?

Mars Society analog studies, research,
promoting manned Mars missions
(www.marssociety.org.au)
Mars Homestead designing a future Mars
settlement. (www.marshome.org)
4 Frontiers company planning to build Mars
settlement. (www.4frontierscorp.com)
Red Colony open source plan for colonising and
terraforming Mars. (www.redcolony.com)

Do you want to go to Mars?

You will need:

Skills, education, and/or experience.

Some scientific knowledge.
Good health & fitness.
Good people skills.
A range of interests.

Good things to study:

Engineering, science, technology,
medicine
IT, electronics, mathematics, robotics
Metalworking trades, mechanics
Music, writing, film-making