Martian habitat

Radiation

Radiation is a big problem on Mars as it is on a way higher level than on earth. On earth, on average, our radiation exposure due to all-natural sources amounts to about 2.4 mSv a year, which is about what you get in 2 days on Mars. This amount of radiation can kill you quite fast.

Solutions for the radiation problem include the use of water, going underground, polyethene, hydrogen, hydrogenated boron nitride nanotubes, force fields and/or Kevlar.

Marsquakes

Marsquakes are a phenomenon similar to earthquakes in which the surface of Mars starts to shake probably because the energy from plate tectonics is released or from possible hotspots. At the moment measurements are done by NASA’s InSight mission who is detecting increasingly more Marsquakes a day. Quakes already cause destruction here on earth, however, they are less frequent, but also worse. Till now there has been Marsquakes measured up to magnitude 4.

We are left with the following options:

Stop building from moving
Add a steel structure to building
Elastic alloys, made of nickel and titanium, or copper, aluminium and manganese, dissipate the energy of an earthquake without making the bridge bend permanently.
Base isolation
Help building move with the quake
Fibre rods

Temperature

As can be seen in the graph, there is a big difference in temperature on Mars and it is very different compared to earth’s temperature. This needs to be anticipated in architecture.

As the ISS also has some temperature challenges I looked at Nasa’s solutions for this problem.

The Station's insulation is a highly-reflective blanket called Multi-Layer Insulation (or MLI) made of Mylar and dacron. MLI does not only keep solar radiation out it also keeps the cold out. The ISS also uses an Active Thermal Control System (ATCS) to take the heat out of the space station, by using cold plates and heat exchangers, both are cooled by a circulating water loop. Waste heat is exchanged a second time in another loop with ammonia instead of water, as ammonia freezes at a lower temperature.

Moxie

One of the options now being explored is called Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). MOXIE stands for Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization, and is a machine that electrolyzes carbon-dioxide into oxygen.

The machine collects CO2 from the Martian atmosphere, and electrochemically splits it into O2 and CO. The O2 is then analyzed for purity and released back into the atmosphere. Currently, MOXIE is still in a test-phase, and is developed to produce about six to eight grams of oxygen per hour - about one percent of the rate needed for early human missions. However, the technologies that are capable of scaling-up this process are present

ECLSS

The Environmental Control and Life Support System is the system that is used in the International Space Station to supply the astronauts with clear water and breathable air. It consists of three systems: the Water Recovery System, the Air Revitalization System and the Oxygen Generation System.

The Water Recovery System provides clean water by recycling wastewater (for instance water used by the astronauts for drinking or washing) and condensated water in the living spaces. The Water Recovery System is capable of recovering and recycling around 90 % of the water on the ISS.

The Air Revitalization System is dedicated to cleaning the circulating cabin air. This involves removing traces of contaminants produced by electronics, plastics and humans.

Oxygen will be made with the Oxygen Generation System, which electrolyzes water provided by the Water Recovery System, yielding oxygen and hydrogen as products. The hydrogen can be used as possible fuel for Martian ‘cars’, or can be used to keep the Sabatier reaction going. The Sabatier reaction (CO2+4H2 2H2O +CH4) combines carbon dioxide that is breathed out by the astronauts with the hydrogen from the Oxygen Generation System, to form water and methane. Methane can be used as fuel or as the basis for making plastics.

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