K
keermalec
Guest
Awesome work, JWSmith,<br /><br />If you will allow me, I believe your habitat design can be optimised.<br /><br />Mass launched from Earth is what drives cost up, doesn't it? At over 10'000'000 USD a ton to LEO, we must seek to minimise as much as possible the mass transported to Mars and landed there. Current estimates show that only 20% of the mass in LEO arrives as useful payload on the martian surface. The rest is fuel, aerobrake shield, thrusters etc. That means a 30-ton habitat (good for 6 people, including life support, from Borowski) would cost 1.5 billion USD simply for transport to the martian surface. On the other hand, a re-usable lander carrying 6 people would weigh only 4 tons (without propellant). Building materials, biomass for life support, and water, should ultimately be produced on Mars and not carried from Earth.<br /><br />Therefore, in a long-term colonization vision, humans should be transported in a ship/habitat that stays in martian orbit and returns to Earth once it is refuelled (maybe with fuel mined on Phobos?) to gather more travellers. Re-using the same ship will certainly drive transportation costs down.<br /><br />Humans should land with as little mass as possible and habitats should be built from local materials, as far as possible.<br /><br />Being in the construction business, I see quite clearly the possibility of producing martian concrete, adapted of course to the dry and cold atmosphere of Mars. Concrete is, after all, simply an artificial stone.<br /><br />Many reasons call for underground habitats, unfortunately, instead of surface domes with a view (;-):<br /><br />- Meteorites (12 hits a day on the whole martian surface, according to recent NASA estimates).<br />- Galactic Cosmic Rays (on the surface of Mars, these are comparable in intensity to what is found in LEO. IE: good for several month's stay but dangerous if living there your whole life).<br />- Keeping the air pressure in. Structures can either be built from very strong tensile <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>“An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” John F. Kennedy</em></p> </div>