West Island College Calgary-Alberta Canada 14 years old 3 / 0 English Mars
We recommend landing at Undae Dune Field. Specifically, near Korolev Crater. This is because, inside Korolev Crater, there are water ice sheets. The Undae Dune field is also mostly flat and therefore easy to land on.
Our base will be separated into five areas. It is important to note that a minimum of 20 meters is between each building to act as a fire or explosion break if something goes wrong. The designated housing area will be in the back of the diorama specifically containing the smaller spheres. Next, the industrial area would be in front of the housing area. After that, the energy generation would be to the left of the base. Fourth, the quarry for mining iron would be located to the front right of the base. Finally, a rocket launch pad will be commissioned at the back right of the base. All the buildings would be spheres and be slightly buried to improve stability. They would be coated in one foot of Martian rock and dust and be comprised of high-density steel to negate radiation.
Housing units would also be spheres and contain living quarters downstairs and a kitchen and other necessary amenities upstairs. Three of these spheres would be connected via corridors with one at the end of the corridor and the other two on the sides of the corridor. Each sphere would house five astronauts. At the end of the tube where no housing unit is, there would be an airlock with space suits attached to the outside, so you never have to deal with Martian dust. On the lower floor, there would be storage for food or other things. There would be three housing units in a row.
In front of the housing units, there would be two industrial units facing each other. Each industrial unit comprises two spheres which are much bigger than the housing ones. The first industrial unit would be for food. One of the spheres would contain aquaponics for food. The other would act as a long-term food storage. The other industrial unit would be for processing. One sphere would be used for storage and the other would be used for all the industrial processes like making steel and fabricating oxygen from Carbon dioxide.
Next, there would be a nuclear generator to the right of the housing pods to generate power for the entire base. It would be a half-sphere.
There would also be a quarry nearby to mine minerals and another one to mine water ice at the pole. The quarry near the base would mostly mine iron to turn into steel along with anything else we may need in the future.
To make breathable air, we would take the carbon dioxide people breathe out and some from Mars’s atmosphere and separate the elements to get oxygen, we would mix that with nitrogen to create breathable air. Since humans just need nitrogen as a placeholder gas and don’t do anything with it, we can continuously recycle it.
To take care of food we would use aquaponics. We can grow staple crops like wheat and vegetables to feed us and the fish. We can use the fish’s poop to fertilize the plants and eat the fish. To get water, we mine the ice at one of the poles and drink that.
To solve microgravity, you can send people in two-year shifts to minimize its effect. This will also help to raise morale as people will know they get to see their family again shortly. We would also mandate workouts and weighted clothing to reduce the effects of microgravity as much as possible.
We can make use of the iron in Mars’s crust and make steel out of it by combining it with coal. We can create coal by using carbon from the carbon dioxide and oxygen and hydrogen from electrolysis with water. We can use the steel to help expand the colony.
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