[imagesource: SpaceX]

The possibility of life on Mars has really stretched people’s imaginations and skillsets as they try and figure out how to build a home on the inhospitable planet.

One does not simply pitch a tent and get on with life as we know it.

Nope, not with Mars’ gruelling temperatures, carbon dioxide-plagued atmosphere, radiation, and intensely low atmospheric pressure.

But still, engineers, scientists, astronomers, and generally aspiring Martians have been racking their brains for the past couple of years, thinking outside the box in order to take the human species beyond Earth.

Before we get the big ideas, CNET outlined all the possible ways that we can die if we try to make life on Mars a thing right off the bat:

If you were teleported to Mars with just basic camping gear, you’d eventually die of radiation poisoning or cancer. But you’d freeze to death long before then, most likely on the first night when temperatures dip to Antarctic levels.

Before that, you’d suffocate trying to breathe the atmosphere made up of mostly carbon dioxide. But before even that, the very low atmospheric pressure on Mars would cause your blood to literally boil, regardless of the outside temperature.

At this rate, it would be safer to just stay on the spacecraft once it lands on Mars.

This is actually an idea that a substantial amount of people are leaning towards, initially at least.

Elon Musk and space envision astronauts have thought of living out of SpaceX Starships at the start (see the image above) while planning and constructing a more permanent human settlement on Mars:

“[Starships] are very valuable on the surface of Mars,” said Paul Wooster, the company’s principal Mars development engineer, in 2018 at a Mars Society convention.

“You’d actually be having most of the ships stay and you’d be operating using the various systems on them to support the activities there.”

Next on the agenda would be “terraforming”, which is basically changing the planet’s environment to be more Earth-like and expanding the habitable bubble across the entire planet.

But first, one just needs to make it through the first night on Mars.

Any Martian home needs to consider shielding us from the intense radiation:

Former NASA physician Jim Logan estimates putting our fragile, fleshy bodies behind or beneath about 9 feet (2.7 meters) of Martian soil should suffice.

Zubrin has also suggested using thick bricks made from Martian regolith to construct shelter, adding a uniquely medieval castle vibe to the more traditionally sleek and futuristic vision of a Mars outpost.

In the case of dust and solar storm sweeping across the planet, the old lava tubes and underground caves can make for good enough homes.

Otherwise, 3D printing a shelter is also something to consider:

NASA held a 3D printed habitat challenge in 2019, with New York’s AI SpaceFactory (which bills itself as a “multi-planetary architectural and technology design agency”) winning the top prize for a system that built a lightweight but strong structure using autonomous robots requiring almost no human guidance.

Check out this Martian future proposal:

Going underground or within hardcore structures won’t allow agriculture to flourish, a practice that will be essential to survival on the Red Planet.

That’s because plants need light:

Mechanical engineer Andrew Geiszler suggested at the 2015 Mars Society convention that geodesic glass domes could be the answer. Mars provides all the raw materials needed to create glass, plastic and metals that can then be turned into dome homes.

“Ultimately we’re going to need to use native materials. It’s very feasible. They’re there for the taking.”

Building a permanent base will require that we can harvest resources and materials from the rugged landscape, which is a whole other story:

“Very little that pertains to living on Mars in the early years will involve off-the-shelf equipment and supplies from Earth,” writes Stephen Petranek in his book How We’ll Live on Mars. “Almost every tool or device in use on Mars will need to have been carefully thought out.”

Finding water will be crucial, which will provide the ability to make oxygen, grow food, and produce fuel and other raw materials.

Apparently, some water molecules have been found in Martian soil, in trace amounts in the air, and present in significant amounts near and below ice deposits, but it is a matter of extracting enough of that to last a human lifetime or more.

Weighing up the factors, possible impacts, effects, situations, problems, challenges, et cetera, of bringing human life to Mars is staggering and overwhelming.

I mean, astronauts have even been found to lose about 1% of the mass of some bones per month spent in space.

They found a solution for that in a human parathyroid hormone (PTH) peptide-rich “space lettuce“, but still, it just goes to show how much there is to think about before packing up for interplanetary travel and living.

Not to mention how the chief aspiring Martian (Musk) seems more preoccupied with posting memes.

[source:cnet]