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Position of Martian Village
Position of Martian Village
We decided to establish our Martian Village in the ‘Utopia Planitia’ region. Figure 2 shows a map of Mars, with the blue circle indicating the position of this region. If you want to take a closer look at the map, you can click on this link: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/hires/mars/#mars
There are two main reasons why the Utopia Planitia region is suitable for building the Martian settlement:
Plant growth
Plant growth
The area is very suitable for plant growth. Figure 1 shows a map developed by researchers of the Wageningen University and Research of the most suitable regions on Mars for plant growth. Areas with low levels of heavy metals in the soil and relatively low levels of radiation, in combination with high temperatures and calcium levels (such as the Utopia Planitia region) were seen as positive, and given a (dark) blue colour (Schug, 2018).
Water deposit
Water deposit
2. There is a readily accessible water deposit. Research from NASA from 2016 shows that under the Martian soil, in Mars’ Utopia Planitia region, there lies a water deposit that can supply enough water for a society of at least 100 people. This deposit, in particular, is more accessible than most other ice deposits on Mars, due to its position at a relatively low latitude and in a flat, smooth area (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2016).
Water
Water
One of the reasons we decided to build our Martian Village in the Utopia Planitia region is because this region holds a water deposit large enough to sustain a society of at least a 100 people. More specifically, the water deposit in the Utopia Planitia region holds around 12.100 km3of water (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2016; Zimmerman, 2017). An astronaut in space on a long term mission uses around 27.6 grams of water per day. For a 100 people, that means the society would use around 1,007410-6 km3of water per year (Rapp, 2018).
If we take into account that all the 99% of the water that is used can be recycled by the ECLSS, and that the water deposit in the Utopia region is less than 1% of all the water present on Mars, we can safely assume that there is enough water to sustain a growing Martian society of at least a 100 people.
Architecture
Architecture
In 2005, Flynn and Rosenberg carried out research on the in-situ production of polyethylene; in other words, the production of a certain type of plastic on Mars. Their research shows that it is possible to convert carbon dioxide into methane, and this methane into ‘high-density polyethylene’ (HDPE). The HDPE could be used to build inflatable structures on Mars, like the see-through domes the Martian buildings are surrounded by (you can take a look at our 3D models).
This is a depiction of the possible development of our Martian village over the years. We focused our projects on the step of the village, which would consist of multiple fused domes with different functions each. Over the years, multiple villages can create toruses, eventually forming multiple Martian cities.
In the close up look of the village below, the hospital with a small research lab, living quarters for the society members, government building and school can be seen.
In the close up look of the village below, the hospital with a small research lab, living quarters for the society members, government building and school can be seen.
Hospital
Hospital
Despite all the preventative health and safety measures implemented in our Mars society, we must be prepared to treat disease and trauma when this does occur. Therefore, there is a well-equipped hospital in our Mars village. The hospital is, just like the other buildings, 3D printed from Martian soil. Except for this unusual building material, the hospital looks very Earth-like. We assume that people will enjoy seeing something familiar when they are in such a bad state that they need to visit a hospital.
Emergency medicine doctors can work in the hospital after they have completed extra training in surgery and diagnostics on Mars. This is necessary because body fluids behave differently in the low gravity of Mars. This poses a risk during surgery and it complicates reading sonograms. All members in the Mars society will be trained as an advanced paramedic, meaning that you’ll likely find some other society members assisting in the hospital when necessary.
The hospital is equipped with a special operating room where both patient and surgeon can be secured to the operating table. In the back of the hospital, there is a small research lab. In case there is an infectious disease outbreak, researchers can quickly find out which pathogen the society is dealing with. Moreover, it can be used to research all possibly living organisms that are found on Mars.
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