How to Build a Mars Colony

Podcast Transcript

Ever since the beginning of the Space Age, some people have envisioned landing humans on Mars.

There are a few who have taken things a step further. They envision not just landing on Mars but having a population of humans who live there permanently.

But how realistic is that dream? Could we actually do this, and if we can’t, what would we need to do?

Learn more about building a colony on Mars and what it would take on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

In a previous episode, I discussed what would be required to terraform Mars.

This episode is not about that. Terraforming an entire planet would take hundreds if not thousands, years and an unspeakable amount of money.

In this episode, I want to focus on the near term, or a time period much less than centuries. Something that could happen within our lifetimes.

So, first, let’s cover the relatively simple case of what would be required for the very first humans to visit Mars.

I say relatively simple because if and when humans finally set foot on Mars, it will be an incredibly difficult undertaking. However, compared to setting up a colony, it is going to be relatively straightforward.

First, let’s compare what going to Mars would entail compared to what was required to go to the moon.

The Apollo missions were much simpler compared to what would be required to get to Mars. The moon is relatively close, with an average distance of 238,855 miles or 384,400 kilometers.

Given its astronomically close distance, the craft used by the Apollo astronauts only had to provide enough life support for under two weeks. The longest Apollo mission was Apollo 17, which lasted 12 days.

Most people could suffer through living in a cramped space capsule for 12 days, so the accommodations didn’t have to be comfortable or spacious. The food didn’t have to be good, or even very nutritious, because it was only 12 days.

The moon has only ? the gravity of Earth, so the Lunar module didn’t have to be very big, and half of it could be left on the surface of the moon.

I don’t want to take away from the incredible feat which was the Apollo Program, but compared to going to Mars, it was a cakewalk.

Over the last 50 years since the end of the Apollo program, space science has advanced, but we have been relatively limited in where we’ve gone. The fact is, since Apollo 17, there hasn’t been a single space flight that has left low Earth orbit.

The furthest any mission has gone was the recent Polaris Dawn mission by Space X, which took its crew of four 1,400 kilometers or 870 miles from the surface of the Earth, which is still considered Low Earth Orbit.

We now have a lot of experience in long-duration space flights. Many astronauts have spent months or even over a year on the International Space Station.

It turns out that spending extended time in zero gravity isn’t really great for human health.

Without gravity, bones lose density at an accelerated rate, and muscles, especially in the lower body and back, atrophy from disuse. The cardiovascular system is affected as blood and fluids redistribute toward the upper body, potentially causing facial swelling, pressure on the eyes, and vision problems, something called spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome, or SANS.

The heart also weakens over time, as it no longer needs to pump as hard against gravity. Additionally, prolonged exposure to microgravity can impair immune function, alter gene expression, and disrupt the vestibular system, leading to balance and coordination issues.

The longest single spaceflight was 438 consecutive days set by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov.

This is important because a mission to Mars will take between six to nine months. The closest distance between Earth and Mars is 34.8 million miles or 56 million kilometers.

The Earth and Mars have completely different orbits, so the only way to get there in a reasonable amount of time is to launch and return during a window that occurs every 26 months.

So, assuming our first trip to Mars will be a glorified Apollo mission where we go to land, plant a flag in the ground, pick up some rocks, and leave, it can be done within a time frame that we have already accomplished on the international space station.

You would need a bigger ship for more supplies, and you would need a bigger landing craft due to Mars’ increased gravity compared to the Moon.

You might even need to send a supply ship to Mars before the crew arrives so they have supplies available when they get there.

The one thing that we really don’t have experience with for a short Mars mission is long-term exposure to radiation in Space. In Low Earth Orbit, astronauts are still protected by the Earth’s magnetic field.

In interplanetary space, you are constantly bombarded by cosmic rays and the solar wind. More on that in a bit.

What would go into a single mission to Mars isn’t that far beyond our technical knowledge today. That isn’t to say it wouldn’t be difficult and expensive, but it isn’t that big of a stretch compared to what we’ve already done.

Now, let’s assume that a mission to Mars is successful, and we want to return, but this time, we want to create a permanent presence on the planet.

Doing this isn’t simply a matter of doing multiple missions like the first one to Mars. You need to develop an entire infrastructure to support the base on Mars.

One of the first things you would need is a base on the Moon. The reason why you would want a base on the Moon has to do with gravity.

The Moon has resources such as water ice, which can be converted into oxygen and hydrogen for rocket fuel. A lunar base could serve as a fuel depot, reducing the need to launch all fuel from Earth.

The Moon’s lower gravity makes it much cheaper to launch spacecraft from the Moon than Earth. Rockets could be refueled on the Moon and launched more efficiently toward Mars.

You could probably bypass a lunar base at least initially, but in the long term, it would make supporting a colony on Mars much easier.

The next technology you would want to develop is nuclear rockets. Nuclear rockets require less fuel and can provide much more thrust compared to chemical rockets.

These would be used in space to go between the Moon and Mars much more quickly. If you didn’t have a nuclear rocket, you’d have to wait every two years for any resupply or crew relief missions.

A nuclear rocket could, in theory, travel between the Moon and Mars at any time, even though the trip would be longer when the Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun.

We have never fired a nuclear-powered rocket in space before, so this would be brand-new technology. I’ll refer you to my previous episode on the subject.

Consumables such as food, water, and oxygen will need to be created on the surface of Mars. Shipping these consumables, especially oxygen and water, all the way from Earth would become prohibitively expensive over time.

We know Mars has water as well as carbon dioxide. These would need to be extracted and processed, which has never been done outside the Earth.

The extraction of water and oxygen would need to be the top priority of the Mars colony, at least at first.

Food would need to be grown on Mars. This is probably one of the lesser challenges as we have lots of experience growing food in artificial environments, but there might be unexpected problems that will be encountered on Mars.

Another major problem would be radiation. Mars doesn’t have a magnetic field, so harmful cosmic rays and solar winds would constantly bombard the colony. Most planning assumes that, in the long run, anyone living on Mars would have to live underground or at least be covered by Martian soil.

Long-term exposure to space radiation is another thing that we have never had to deal with before.

One thing that people living on Mars wouldn’t have to worry about is high winds. In the movie The Martian, starring Matt Damon, the Mars base was threatened by a storm with high winds.

High-speed winds can exist on Mars, but the air pressure is so low, less than 1% that of Earth, that it can’t exert much force even at high speeds.

Another problem that will be faced is energy. Solar panels can work on the surface of Mars; however, they are not as efficient.

On Earth, solar panels receive an average of 1,000 watts per square meter at noon under clear skies.

Mars is about 1.5 times farther from the Sun than Earth, receiving only about 43% of Earth’s solar energy.

Dust storms can cover solar panels, but they can be cleaned if there is a crew.

It would mean doubling the number of solar panels to power a Mars base or necessitating a small-scale nuclear power station as a long-term solution.

Another big unknown is gravity. We have plenty of experience in zero gravity, and we know that extended time in zero gravity is harmful.

What we don’t know is how humans will thrive in partial gravity. Do humans need the full gravity of Earth to thrive, or is at least partial gravity enough to avoid bone loss and muscle decay?

The gravity on Mars is 38% of that of the Earth.

We will never be able to test this until humans actually spend time on Mars.

Assuming we can solve the food, water, oxygen, radiation, and energy problems, there is another issue.

Communications.

At closest approach, radio signals take approximately 3 minutes one way between Earth and Mars.

At their farthest distance, signals take about 22 minutes.

This creates a round-trip delay of 6 to 44 minutes.

The high latency between Earth and Mars cannot be overcome because of the speed of light.

When the Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun, communication is impossible.

Currently, the rovers and orbiters on Mars communicate with Earth, but the time delay isn’t that big of a problem because the rovers and orbiters are designed to behave very slowly.

Moreover, the data transfer rate is quite low.

Currently, Martian rovers communicate with Martian orbiters at a rate of 1-2 megabits per second. There are limited windows when the satellite is overhead when data can be sent.

The data speeds from the Martian satellites to Earth can vary depending on the orbiter, but they are all very slow. They are usually around the speeds of a dial-up modem. They can send images and data because they are sending it continuously.

This level of bandwidth isn’t going to cut it for a Mars colony. There would be a need for high-speed data that could send high-definition voice and video.

NASA is currently working on a solution to the problem with a project known as the Deep Space Optical Communications Systems. This system uses lasers in the near-infrared region instead of radio waves.

In 2023, this technology was tested on the Psyche Mission, which is visiting the asteroid of the same name. Tests have shown that it can send data at rates between 25 to 267 megabits per second, depending on distance.

There is hope that bandwidth speeds could reach as much as 10 gigabits per second in the future.

NASA’s Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol is designed for high-latency data environments. It has been tested on the International Space Station and is expected to play a key role in future Mars missions and other interplanetary communications.

These are only some of the known issues that we will have to face if we wish to have a permanent presence on Mars. There are probably a host of unknown issues that we can’t even think of that will have to be addressed if this is ever actually attempted.

If, at some point, all of these issues can be overcome, it will be one of the biggest advancements in all of human history.