The first colony at Mars!

Why you want to go to mars

I was an air force pilot in US Army. The government of United States chose me and 5 other people to colonize Mars. We had to do this so that we have a 2^nd planet to survive in case earth can’t sustain human life.

How will you get there

The first plasma-powered rocket to Mars launched off with my group. It took us 23 days to reach Mars. Life can only survive where there is water. There was frozen water in the polar ice caps of Mars. This was where we decided to land. The landing was very tough and it felt like the ship was going to break apart. We luckily stopped at an edge of a canyon that had been the bed of an ancient lake.

What do you do when first get there

We needed air, water, food and shelter to survive. We had brought food that would last us two months but we only had 5 days of supply of air and water. We desperately needed supply of oxygen and water. So we dug in the canyon and, to our relief, we found ice. We brought solar heater that would use the sunlight for energy to purify and melt the ice into water. We brought a machine called splitter390 that would use the electricity generated from the solar panels to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. We needed oxygen to breathe that we put in our tubes to live beyond our initial supply of 5 days. Our temporary shelter was the rocket ship.

We needed to make a plan to survive beyond 30 days. We would live here in years to come. We needed permanent supply of air, water, food, and bigger shelter.

Constraints

We had very little materials to make a green house and the house we would live in. If we bring too many materials, ship would be too heavy. Heavier objects take lot of energy to lift from earth. It would cost too much fuel and money. We also had very little energy on Mars. The only energy source was the sunlight. We had very little water to drink. We also had very little oxygen. The challenge is to make do with very little resources and survive.

Green house and shelter

We needed to build green house large enough to grow food for 6 people. Space ships were not big enough to sustain more than 3 months. There were frequent sand storms at Mars. The green house and house we lived in had to be strong.

We brought very little material from earth. If we brought more, it would have taken too much fuel and money. So we had very few materials to make the house. We had to use as much local material as possible. We used the brick from Marsian soil and rocks to make the house and green house. Houses and green house had to be air proof. So we used materials from space ship to air proof and furnish the houses. After 3 months of effort our houses were complete. The houses and green house were directly attached.

Water                                                 

There was little energy to make water from ice. We took very little water from ice and then we used it as much as possible by recycling. We drank water and when we peed and defecated the water out into the plants. Now the plants would use the liquid and make a fresh juicy fruit. We would drink the juice out of the fruit and pee the liquid back into the plant. Cycle continues again and again. But some water escapes from the plant in form of water vapors to outside. Thus we needed to mine small supply of water from ice.

Air                                              

It took lot of energy to get oxygen from marsian resources.  We needed to do with less oxygen. We had to recycle oxygen. We recycled oxygen by pumping carbon dioxide into the green house and the plants would breathe the carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. We would pump the oxygen into our houses. Then we would breathe the oxygen and put the carbon dioxide into the plant again. This went on continuously. Some air leaks out that we needed to replenish by splitting water.

Food

We could use sun’s energy to grow plants that produce food and make oxygen. We would need enough food and oxygen for 6 people to survive. We brought 2 month of food from earth. We had 2 months to grow plants before we run out. We planted tomato, broccoli, soybean, and potato. These plants grow very quickly. These foods keep us healthy. The soybeans can be made into many things like soymilk. Every two months the plants were fully-grown and they were harvested.

Summary                             

Now we had water, energy, food and shelter to survive for 6 people comfortably. We used as much as possible from Mars and then used all the materials we brought from Earth. We sustained for a year. We got entertainment using TV programs from earth. We were very happy to be the first to establish a Marsian colony. 

People found out how my group and I were living by seeing our videos and pictures we sent. People were impressed and interested in Mars. Many people were preparing to come to Mars. Now we had to build bigger green houses and more housing for bigger colony. For that we needed to start mining for materials. Future of our colony looks very bright. I think human race would survive if earth becomes inhospitable for human life.