Foundation
A city state on Mars
This project was prepared for the 2020 Mars Society contest of a one million people City State on Mars. The proposal won the third position in a field of 176 proposals.
A book including the reports of the top 20 teams is available on Amazon : Mars City States New Societies for a New World.
Our project report was written as an article for the fictional magazine Planetscope, by the reporter Lucie. You will find excerpts from Lucie's notebooks throughout the website that add her personal viewpoint to the text.
A graphic novel, The Meridian Way, covers the further adventures of Lucy about ten years after writing this article.
Arkadia seen from its Spaceport
"Of all the questions I asked myself before leaving Earth, the most heady, the simplest and the most important was undoubtedly the one concerning "these other humans": Would these brothers from another planet accept me? Now, I find myself dreading their look. It's silly, but that's what I feel as we approach Mars. In the imminence of a landing on it’s crazy spaceport, my heart is racing, thinking of all the intrusive questions that I will have to ask, all these avenues of human civilization that I will have to walk in search of an answer. I will have to understand what is the pride of Arkadians and Suryans, the inhabitants of this strange city state known as Foundation, where each new green plot of ‘land’ has been won at the price of efforts and ingenuity, bringing life to a planet which was devoid of it. The steam clears from the tarmac. The airlocks opens and a new smell reaches my nostrils. I am on Mars. " (From Lucie's Notebooks)
The Foundation City State regroups two main settlement poles and a smattering of small settlements approximately aligned on the 170° West meridian. The two settlements, Arkadia and Surya, often described as the city of water and the city of the sun, are linked by the Meridian Way, a 2,200 km long road that is the backbone of the Foundation city state. Arkadia, located in Arkcadia Planitia is the oldest human settlement on Mars. It developed from the original landing site of the first inhabited base on Mars, chosen for easy access to large amounts of water ice.
Surya is a younger settlement, located in Nicholson crater near the Equator, and its location was determined by a favorable combination of sunshine, good views of the central peak and the presence of water ice in the nearby Medusae Fossae region. The construction of Surya was held back until a compromise was reached concerning the rules of Planetary Protection. The new settlement, with its own spaceport, has practically reached the size of Arkadia.
The two settlements benefit from a fairly low altitude, respectively -3798 m and -4423 m, providing an atmospheric pressure of about 100 Pa.
The Suryan settlement tends towards a greater adaptation to the Martian environment when compared to Arkadia. Surya’ investment in solar energy is highlighted by the use of surface greenhouses and space mirrors for food production, rather than the use of underground grow rooms and bioreactors. The architecture is also based on spaces that are more open to the outside, with a more relaxed attitude towards radiation, rather than the initial reliance tunnels and massive shielding found in Arkadia.
Many thanks to all the people who contributed to our report : Clarisse, Pierre-Maël, MarsProof project , NASASpaceflight.com’ discussion boards, and Federation Open Space Makers association,
Some organization are cited for story convenience in current text (Mars Society, SpaceX, Michelin Guide, Lockheed Martin), but the opinions given are those of the authors and cannot be attributed to these organization other than by coincidence.
Link to Michel's other Mars site, Estepona
Florent's Fondation site
Marspedia : Mars colony design contests
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