New Mars Forums

True all that is needed to create a colony is there it is just not exactly how we really want it so we have to basically terraform it.

Lot of good ideas for the various means to do base construction below, though a site aimed at moonbases they are reasonably adapted to what we need.

http://www.moonbase-italia.org/proceedings.htm]Moonbase a challenge

Still for plants the biggest problem is the low light level and the only means I can think of is to start to develop a plethora of species that can thrive in a low light condition. Unfortunatly there is no present cereals that do well in low light though this is not the case for root crops like potatoes or carrots.

There are many problems to a permanent semi self reliant base on Mars. Starting with the first that will hopefully allow solutions to the others. These are Power, Air, Shelter and Food and Water production.

Power is a problem as we will need a constant source of electrical power and also heat so that our people there do not freeze. This problem is solved by the use of a nuclear power plant but if political pressures stop the use of a nuclear plant we are really in difficulty. The use of wind power is mute there is not enough pressure to provide a decent power source. Solar is also much reduced due to Mars distance from the sun and fuel cells need a constant fuel source though good for instant power. So a solution is to have a nuclear plant with batteries and fuel cell emergency backup especially good if we later crack the water produced by the cell to allow the resource to be used again.

Air is not so much a problem as long as we have plenty of power to crack the CO2 and the oxygen locked up in the soil of Mars. If we also have a rugged life support system that removes the impurities in the air and also has plenty of backup there should not be a problem just needs good engineering.

Shelter is a problem for people cannot really wish to live in a habitat we send and will crave extra space. When we build on mars we will need to get the new habitat airtight and able to function on the life support system we have already sent. We must also be aware that the base may well absorb oxygen we have made into its frame as we continue.( this has happened to the Biosphere where concrete absorbed oxygen to the point of dangerous deficiencies in the habitat)

Finally food and water. Water would be really helped if we landed near to a recognised source of water and this is just requiring good reconaisance before hand. Food though is a problem with the level of light in the region of Mars and since we also have to protect the crops from the ultra violet light then we need to find a means to solve this problem. Genetic solutions to create a breed of "Mars" crops that are ultraviolet tolerant, able to thrive in poor light conditions( improved Chlorophyll ?) very nutricious and best of all fast growing. Preparing the soil of Mars  to be able to grow crops again is an engineering problem. If we first of all crack the soil of the large amounts of oxygen in it and then also find less "harsh" rock to also crush we have a base material. This base material will provide either the "soil" for a hydroponics type farm if crompessed into balls or just spread out in a completely enclosed farm. Nutrients can be added some of which will be in the form of the packaging surrounding the stores and packages sent to Mars and waste the crew make. Others will be in the form of fertiliser material gleaned from the martian atmosphere and the water source we have found. Finally we need a good lot of worms to keep the soil healthy.

The Base will not be truly self reliant as there will be a constant need for resupply from Earth but these will grow a base into hopefully the first colony.

The idea that the Chinese are literally being worked to death to produce the goods we in the rest of the world crave does not exactly go with the figures on the goods bought in the Chinese domestic market. These indicate the normal Chinese person has spare cash to purchase goods.

The Chinese are literally buying over 5 million mobile phones a MONTH and the increase in the purchases of other electrical goods etc is just as high. Though tradgedies like that 16 year old girl happen it is the extreme rather than the rule and we have to accept that as the Chinese economy grows so does the Chinese capacity to purchase economic goods. This means they have wages to spare to pay for these. As more and more people leave there peasant condition farms to move to the new economic industrial cities to make there fortunes this indicates the cities pay better.

LOL in all likehood at the end of his six months as EU in charge he will resign as British PM so I wouldnae bother.

Welcome to new Mars Master Berman

Hope you get your chapter organised.

Actually for the country it is going and its ease of building and maintenance and more importantly its comfort this design is a dream for many people in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. If you actually look at the features you will see why. It is raised off the ground on Concrete blocks as such it will not be eaten by the insects living on the ground or rot in the high tempature and humidity enviroment. The high pitched roof allows water to run off quickly and even better be collected and since it will be made of plastic it will not rot and especially not leak. The raised platform allows air to circulate as well as the batten type walls so allowing cooling to occur in an enviroment with no electrical air conditioning. If we could put solar panels in they would have the ultimate luxury electricity.

That is some house just dont look at it from a western point of view

The problem for a warning system is not the detection of the Tsunami it is how do you actually give the alarm to the populace. Most pacific and indian ocean nations are poor borderline poverty stricken and cannot afford televisions and radios we would take for granted. Any system of public warning sirens would need a reasonably constant maintenance rota as well as an assured power supply all of which are not in place.

I wish it was a simple answer but in this case for the likes of Indonesia to be effective will take a lot of work and we are not just talking Indonesia here are we. There is the whole african coast as well as mainland Asia/India to do as well.

So if it has to be a quick fix to a problem that just does not seem to be going away then there really is left only the one choice.

A measure must be added to or on the foam to stop it falling off. This cannot be new spraying techniques or a new foam material as to develop and properly test would take too long in to short a window.

A simple statement the next question though is harder this measure must weigh as little as possible so as to reduce the weight loss to the shuttle. It also must be done quick.

A Solid metal skin on top of the foam is not going to happen it would be too heavy and even another coating of a solid material sprayed on would increase weight too much. This only leaves a form of netting to cover the shuttle.

so netting it must be

There is a very quiet revolution occuring in the passenger flight industry and it is to do with how baggage is treated and transported. The new Hong Kong international airport is an example. It brings in a degree of automation that improves service incredibly. An example is that from a plane docking to baggage starting to go around the carousel is only 4 minutes and a plane is emptied usually within 10 minutes.

Putting baggage into the plane is also a lot more automated and luggage is less likely to get lost than a normal service.

Still all of this could have been done to allow the original concept of the columbus module to dock. If there is a propulsion, Guidance system it can use and it has attitude thrusters and the only difference is the werewithal to dock at a different port, then a solution would have been found. Actually as the module would be able to get close what is to stop the likes of the canadaarm from assisting in its integration onto the ISS. I know it is spilt milk but as ESA's original concept was to actually launch its own elements to the ISS they certainly had planned to sort this minor problem.

Even the Arianne 5GS that is to launch the ATV was design concept was thought of when they believed that they where to launch there own modules to the ISS and certainly there have been concepts for much heavier lift Ariannes that just have never come to fruitition as there has been no need for them.

I brought this up in a previous post that the columbus science module was initially designed to have its own power supply and life support. This was removed by pressure by NASA which also stopped the columbus module from being launched by the Ariane.

So now this means that ESA is worried that the Shuttle will not launch the Module and frankly the ISS will have little or no interest to ESA and so the countries that have put the money in have wasted Billions to get nothing back. This is not good for interAgency relations.