Name | Description | Proximity | Viability Rating | Commentary |
Water splitting plant | Provides oxygen and hydrogen for settlers | Near | High | Given enough power, splitting water from the permafrost for oxygen for life support and hydrogen (not sure what you’d use hydrogen for) would be comparatively easy |
Insulation | Near | High | Insulation for habitats would be essential to protect from radiation. For small bases this might be achieved by loading Martian regolith on top of the buildings, which would have the added benefit of increasing structural strength against internal air pressure difference to the outside | |
Underground city | Near | High | The easiest way to avoid radiation, and to protect against the strain imposed by the differences in air pressure (high in the habitat, low outside) would be to locate the habitat underground. A pit could be excavated, the regolith used to make bricks to create underground vaults, then the rest of the removed debris used to cover the vaults with a protective mound. The technology is pretty simple, and construction could be undertaken by robot diggers and brick factory tele-controlled from orbit. Of course, living underground, the view won’t be great | |
Lava Tube settlement | Near | Medium | A variant on the underground city, this would make use of an existing lava tube left behind by volcanic activity. The tubes exist on Earth, and on a much larger scale, on the moon. Ig they exist of Mars, they could be used to house a base, or even a large settlement. Spray the inside walls with a tough plastic to provide an atmospheric seal, build a front door, and you’re away! | |
House printers | Large scale 3d printing on Mars | Near | High | Using large 3D printers and material from the regolith to print predesigned walls for a small surface or subsurface base. Already been trialled on earth, it would be an alternative to making Martian bricks |
Magnetic field dome | Limited area protection from radiation | Medium | N/K | This might be possible to create with a powerful electromagnet, but not clear how much power it would need, or what the side effects might be to people of to metal objects and systems |
Domed Craters | Medium | Low | A variant on the dome city, but using a crater for a starting point. This would have the drawback of limiting options for keeping the dome in a hemispherical shape. It would also stop those at the base of the dome from being able to see out onto the surface, so it’s difficult to see the point of this proposition | |
Open City | Once the atmosphere is thick enough? | Medium | Medium | This would entail a number of pressurised structures and walkways, without an overall protective layer like a dome or regolith. Perhaps the simplest to build, but the clumsiest to live in, and radiation protection would still be an issue |
Domed city | Medium | Medium | The aesthetically pleasing choice for a medium to large scale habitat, having visual access to the Martian surface. The engineering requirements for maintaining a pressurised hemisphere shape would be considerable, and a self-repairing, radiation reflecting material would be desirable as well | |
Rad-Chem factory | Certain aromatic compounds can absorb radiation without breaking | N/K | N/K | I’m not a biochemist but I’m struggling to find what benefits these would be |
Transorbital 