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In the Crops thread I attempted to estimate size for a settlement of 12. For permanent settlements, I recommended tempered glass held by metal frame.
Yes, the three sisters were beans, corn, and squash. Beans and all legumes have a bacterium that grows in nodules of their roots. The bean provides carbohydrate, moisture, and pretty much all nutrients other than nitrogen. The bacterium fixes nitrogen from atmosphere. It fixes so much nitrogen that nitrate leaks out into the soil. That nitrogen is necessary to make protein, which is why legumes have more protein than other plant crops.
Beans and rice each have protein, but each have some amino acids that are far too scarce for human nutrition. But what's missing in one is plentiful in the other, so together they make a complete protein. Beans and corn do the same thing. Squash has fatty acids aka plant based fat that humans require. Together they provide a balanced diet. And what each depleats from the soil, at least one other provides. Eg, corn depleats soil of nitrogen, but not more than beans provide. So it's sustainable.
Curved glass is stronger. Car windshields start as flat glass. It's heated to temper, but it's also heated enough to cause it to sag. The heat and timing has to be very specific to get it to curve just right. But we should be able to use car windshield technology to make window panes on Mars.
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