New Mars Forums

The decision of having an autonomous government or earth ran government is a crucial decision for a colony. My opinion is some where in between working on its own and having off control. Communication would allow most of the time for it to be run from earth but if or when communication is offline it should be able to function on its own. Now how will officials be elected? This depends on the size of the colony. If large a federal republic, if small a democratic system. Having multiple countries merge together and have a joint organization is viable. Communication could consist of several satellites in lagrange points or so they can always be able to talk with earth. This would be every day communication. Emergency communication would similar and have a system of autonomous operations for emergency situations or crisis. Formal communication or inspection would be face to face. Now the medium to relay information back and forth, what will this be? I would say a form of a video call for visual things such as charts but simple may be better. Should private corporations run their own colonies? Reply below what you think.

Hello my fellow forum members should I introduce this to Elon Musk or nasa, let me know I think this would be interesting.

The problem of actually growing it may not be that hard. The boredom of eating bland and the same food could lead to stress. In this post I am asking for food ideas but I will be adding crops and possibly livestock.

Some of my proposed food includes: Mushrooms, fish, purslane, potatoes, sweetpotatoes, peas, algae, corn, cucumbers, grain, chicken, carrots, and more.
Meals or parts are: garlic bread, chicken, chicken stew, cooked fish, salad, possibly even breakfast items or on site snacks. Add your own suggestions but now I will discuss agriculture itself.

Agriculture may or may not be a major problem but soil is a little heavy so why not on site? The clay and perchlorates. The bacteria cultures that are taken will eat the perchlorates but what about making soil more fertile? Well nitrogen fixating bacteria, food scraps and sterilized fecal matter, (which may sound unsanitary but on site sterilization is possible) even burning the desceased or burning bamboo ( used for making a chemical similar to kerosene) to enrich the soil. Burning dead colonists sounds somewhat unsettling but it is a viable option. But aquaculture or hydroponics would also be a good idea. Nutrient rich items could be put into the water and drank using activated carbon filters and have fish swim in the water if clean enough. Or the water could be put into a separate tank but switches over water and have algae be produced in the water. That water could be used for the fish. Any suggestions on other crops and/ or agriculture.