Mars Habitat Construction: Grow the materials needed on Mars!

[james fisher]

Mars will be explored by humanity soon. The choice of habitat construction materials is critical. If the habitat could be constructed of materials found on Mars then it would be much more cost effective than transporting material from earth. It is proposed that Pykrete may offer a innovative solution to construction of Martian habitats.

Pykrete is composed of wood fiber and water. At temperatures below 32 f this mixture provides concrete like strength and durability. A habitat composed of pykrete would be able to withstand the weight of soil mounded upon the structure to provide radiation shielding and would be able to hold pressure as well.

The basic materials needed to form pykrete are found on Mars. We know there is water available in various forms on the planet, either in the polar ice caps or as underground brines and ice layers. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be transformed to wood fiber through photosynthesis by plants such as bamboo. Imagine a heated chamber supplied with compressed Martian atmosphere and water from Mars, growing bamboo and then ejecting the grown wood in bundles for later use in construction. This would provide the raw materials to construct robust habitats.

 

[sizzlerjoe]

Mars will be explored by humanity soon. The choice of habitat construction materials is critical. If the habitat could be constructed of materials found on Mars then it would be much more cost effective than transporting material from earth. It is proposed that Pykrete may offer a innovative solution to construction of Martian habitats.

Pykrete is composed of wood fiber and water. At temperatures below 32 f this mixture provides concrete like strength and durability. A habitat composed of pykrete would be able to withstand the weight of soil mounded upon the structure to provide radiation shielding and would be able to hold pressure as well.

The basic materials needed to form pykrete are found on Mars. We know there is water available in various forms on the planet, either in the polar ice caps or as underground brines and ice layers. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be transformed to wood fiber through photosynthesis by plants such as bamboo. Imagine a heated chamber supplied with compressed Martian atmosphere and water from Mars, growing bamboo and then ejecting the grown wood in bundles for later use in construction. This would provide the raw materials to construct robust habitats.

Anything grown in a weaker gravity other than earth's (1) would not sustain the support weights created from the structure itself. All will need to be- excessively strong..
Only what is brought built previously or assembled there would really suffice. And don't forget bone density will diminish short term-especially long term-- from that first baby born there. We can't increase mars or planet Pluto's gravity.

 

[sizzlerjoe]

No seed taken from earth would grow as on earth, you would have an reversed evolutionary generation of structure in the plant fiber. Matching FROM the gravity it grows in and what yes, abuses from environment it survives to be well enough that when harvested, it has previously sustained molecular support.

 

[ChrisA]

Mars will be explored by humanity soon. The choice of habitat construction materials is critical. If the habitat could be constructed of materials found on Mars then it would be much more cost effective than transporting material from earth. It is proposed that Pykrete may offer a innovative solution to construction of Martian habitats.

Pykrete is composed of wood fiber and water. At temperatures below 32 f this mixture provides concrete like strength and durability. A habitat composed of pykrete would be able to withstand the weight of soil mounded upon the structure to provide radiation shielding and would be able to hold pressure as well.

The basic materials needed to form pykrete are found on Mars. We know there is water available in various forms on the planet, either in the polar ice caps or as underground brines and ice layers. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be transformed to wood fiber through photosynthesis by plants such as bamboo. Imagine a heated chamber supplied with compressed Martian atmosphere and water from Mars, growing bamboo and then ejecting the grown wood in bundles for later use in construction. This would provide the raw materials to construct robust habitats.

If you are looking to reduce the cost you first have to have a very good cost model that adds up the cost of all the parts you need. Then you look at the most expensive parts and see what can be done.

Building with materials found or made on Mars only addresses the cost of the pressure shell and not any of the contents inside like a nuclear power supply and air and water recycling. But the pressure shell is only, maybe 10% of the cost if even that. So even if pressure shells were free it would only drive down the cost by single digit percents.

Then with you free shell you still have to install all the "stuff" but you are using VERY expensive labor to do that on Mars.

Likey the cheapest way is to outfit a SpaceX Starship as living space, land it on Mars. The Starship is too big and needs so much fuel thatit would never be able to launch back to space after landing, but they are big and cheap and cost about as much as the payload inside.

As Elon Musk has said, the best part is no part. If you want to build a pressure shell to contain pressurized breathing gas then the best plan is not to build a shell but to dig a tunnel. A tunnel create a radiation shield space and the walls are "free" after you remove the rock from the interior. Any shell you build has to be buried 100M underground, so you might as well NOT build a shell. You do not need concrete or metal ut you will need an inflatable bag to seal the space and keep it airtight. The bag does not need to contain the pressure.

But in the mean time we will just lert the astronauts risk exposure to radiation and have them live on a big giant lander for a few weeks or months.