The international contest for the best design plan of a Mars city state of 1,000,000 people
Bass Hatvani Robert
CHIEF MAGNET IN BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE at SSR - STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN REDUNDANCY
MARS - A Traveller's Guide to the Planets
Mars is the ruby jewel in our night sky and arguably the hottest travel destination in the Solar System. Here, on the fourth rock from the Sun, is our best chance to step into the rest of the Universe and the most likely place we know to encounter the alien life-forms we might share it with.
THE COMPETITION - BE A PART OF THE SUM
If you say that something is more than the sum of its parts or greater than the sum of its parts, you mean that it is better than you would expect from the individual parts, because the way they combine adds a different quality.
Scientists have just found a possible way to get to Mars in an unprecedented 3 days. What is photon driven propulsion and how does it work?
The planet Mars
The planet Mars is one of the brightest objects in the night sky, easily visible with the unaided eye as a bright red star. Every two years or so, Mars and Earth reach their closest point, called “opposition”, when Mars can be as close as 55,000,000 km from Earth. And every two years, space agencies take advantage of this orbital alignment to send spacecraft to the Red Planet. How long does it take to get to Mars?
The total journey time from Earth to Mars takes between 150-300 days depending on the speed of the launch, the alignment of Earth and Mars, and the length of the journey the spacecraft takes to reach its target. It really just depends on how much fuel you’re willing to burn to get there. More fuel, shorter travel time.
The Mars Society
The Mars Society is pleased to announce the holding of an international contest for the best design plan of a Mars city state of 1,000,000 people. There will be a prize of $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second, $2,500 for third, $1,000 for fourth and $500 for fifth. In addition, the top 20 papers will be published in a new book “Mars City States: New Societies for a New World.”
The city
The city state should be self-supporting to the maximum extent possible – i.e. relying on a minimum mass of imports from Earth. To make all the things that people require on Earth takes a lot more than 1,000,000 people, therefore participating teams will need to augment both the amount and diversity of available labor power through the use of robots and artificial intelligence.
Teams
Teams will need to be able to both produce essential bulk materials like food, fabrics, steel, glass and plastics on Mars, and fabricate them into useful structures, so 3-D printing and other advanced fabrication technologies will be essential. The goal is to have the city state be able to produce all the food, clothing, shelter, power, common consumer products, vehicles and machines for a population of 1,000,000, with only the minimum number of key components, such as advanced electronics, needing to be imported from Earth.
As noted, imports will always be necessary, so teams will need to think of useful exports – of either material or intellectual products that the colony could produce and transport or transit back to Earth to pay for them. In the future, it can be expected that, using the SpaceX Starship or similar technology, the cost of shipping goods from Earth to Mars will be $500/kg and the cost of shipping goods from Mars to Earth will be $200/kg. Under these assumptions, it is the job of the team to design an economy, cost it out and show that after a certain initial investment in time, money and effort, that it can become successful.
How to score
It is not necessary that the city state be built all in one location on the Martian surface. It can be done that way or one or more central cities can be set up, supported by outlying bases on Mars or its moons, as needed.
In scoring city state designs, points will be allocated on the following basis:
- 30 points technical design: What engineering systems will be used? How will they work?
- 30 points economic: How can the city state be made economically successful?
- 20 points social/cultural/political: What should Martian society be like? What kinds of schools, arts, sports and other activities should there be? How, given a fresh start, can life on Mars be made better than life on Earth? How should the city state govern itself?
- 20 points aesthetic: How can the city state be made an attractive and enjoyable place to live?
The Mars Society
The Mars Society contest is open to all people from around the world. Participants can work alone or as part of a team. Each contestant will need to submit a report of no more than 20 pages presenting their plan by no later than June 30, 2020.
A down select will then be made to the top 10 proposals, whose authors will be invited to present them in person in front of a panel of judges chosen by the Mars Society at the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention in Los Angeles in October 2020.
To consider
To help develop ideas, participants might want to consider a number of sources including SpaceX plans, NASA data, Robert Zubrin’s books “The Case for Mars” and the “The Case for Space” and concepts for 1,000 person Mars colonies developed in response the Mars Society’s 2019 Mars Colony Prize contest published recently in "Mars Colonies: Plans for Settling the Red Planet"
About the Mars Society
The Mars Society is the world's largest and most influential space advocacy organization dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. Established by Dr. Robert Zubrin and others in 1998, the group works to educate the public, the media and the government on the benefits of exploring Mars and creating a permanent human presence on the Red Planet.
In order to accomplish this, the organization actively seeks to:
- Organize public outreach with the aim of fostering a deep interest in Mars
- Promote broad international support for government-funded Mars research and exploration, and
- Advocate the establishment of commercial space ventures that will help achieve Mars exploration and settlement.
Society activities include Mars analog simulations in the Utah desert and the Canadian Arctic, public outreach and educational programs such as the MarsVR virtual reality simulations, the annual University Rover Challenge, political advocacy efforts, privately-funded research, chapter meetings and activities in the U.S. and around the world, and the annual International Mars Society Convention.
PRIVATE LUNAR MISSION BY SPACEX
On September 17, 2018, SpaceX announced fashion innovator and globally recognized art curator Yusaku Maezawa will be the company’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon in 2023. To date, only 24 people have visited the Moon, with the last of them flying in 1972.
This first private lunar passenger flight, featuring a fly-by of the Moon as part of a weeklong mission, will help fund development of SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy (formerly known as BFR), an important step in enabling access for everyday people who dream of flying to space.
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”
STARSHIP AND SUPER HEAVY
SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy Rocket represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to service all Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars. This two-stage vehicle - composed of the Super Heavy rocket (booster) and Starship (ship) - will eventually replace Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon.
By creating a single system that can service a variety of markets, SpaceX can redirect resources from Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon to Starship - which is fundamental in making the system affordable.
MISSIONS TO MARS
Our aspirational goal is to send our first cargo mission to Mars in 2022. The objectives for the first mission will be to confirm water resources, identify hazards, and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure.
A second mission, with both cargo and crew, is targeted for 2024, with primary objectives of building a propellant depot and preparing for future crew flights. The ships from these initial missions will also serve as the beginnings of the first Mars base, from which we can build a thriving city and eventually a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.
On September 29th at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, SpaceX CEO and Lead Designer Elon Musk provided an update to his 2016 presentation regarding the long-term technical challenges that need to be solved to support the creation of a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars.
AI SPACEFACTORY DEVELOPS CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL ENABLE THE EXPANSION OF HUMAN LIFE ON AND BEYOND EARTH
NASA-TESTED TECHNOLOGY BROUGHT TO THIS PLANET
Our 3D printed Earth habitat TERA is the most advanced, sustainable building ever conceived. Built with our NASA-award-winning technologies, TERA is light years ahead of any known form of construction.
TERA’s exterior shell is renewable and recyclable, resulting in a simpler, more sustainable solution for building on this planet. As TERA is developed for various climates and challenges through each print, it advances our space technologies to ultimately enable human life on the Moon and Mars.
The Mars Homes That NASA Awarded
AI SpaceFactory's "MARSHA" Mars Habitat just won NASA's 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge. Compared to others, their design looks downright luxurious. It has multiple floors, spacious living quarters, and plenty of windows to gaze upon the Martian horizon.
ARCHITECTURE ON MARS
Architecture on Earth plays a critical role in the way we live. On Mars, this reaches a higher level of importance since buildings are also machines we depend on to keep us alive and well. In Space architecture, every design decision is of great consequence to the success of a mission.
Structures must be resilient and interior layouts must be tuned to mission demands. And yet, since sustained social and mental health are also mission-critical, Space habitats must be designed to be rich, useful and interesting worlds onto themselves. Marsha, AI SpaceFactory’s Mars habitat design, illustrates that the result can be both visionary and credible with an alien yet familiar beauty.
3D PRINTING
Martian exploration and settlement at any meaningful and sustainable scale will depend on the utilization of materials found on Mars. This is enabled by in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies. ISRU circumvents the hard limits of the rocket equation wherein every 10 pounds of rocket needs roughly 90 pounds of propellant. Without ISRU the cost of importing materials from Earth renders the project of extraterrestrial futures impossible.
To get around this, Space agencies and companies plan to send machines in advance of human crews to harvest the raw Martian materials and process them into forms that can be deposited and assembled into homes and other structures. Thus, using technologies tested on Earth first, our future Mars habitats can be built ahead of our arrival.
HUMAN EXPERIENCE - A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MARSHA
MARSHA's functional areas are spread over four levels identified by a unique interior atmosphere that encourages mobility and averts monotony. Via the large skylight above and intermittent windows, the space between the two shells acts as light-well connecting all levels with diffuse natural light. This unique space allows for a stair to arc gently from floor to floor, adding dimension to daily life.
INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS - THE FORMULA FOR 3D-PRINTING ON MARS
In collaboration with Techmer PM, we've formulated an innovative mixture of basalt fiber extracted from Martian rock and renewable bioplastic (polylactic acid, or PLA) processed from plants grown on Mars.
This recyclable polymer composite outperformed concrete in NASA’s strength, durability, and crush testing. ASTM lab tested and certified to be two to three times stronger than concrete in compression, our space-grade material is also five times more durable than concrete in freeze-thaw conditions.