A collaboration of think tanks and design professionals are working on the blueprint of a sustainable five city settlement on Mars.

While this news makes me wonder why is it that we are looking for expanding our domain to Mars before we have achieved sustainability in the cities on Planet Earth, the below statement by The Mars Society breeds optimism that this new innovative and technological marvel could be a step in advanced learning and practices in Green Architecture.

“Since we have a chance to start over, would life on Mars be better than on Earth? And how should this new city be designed to be an attractive and pleasant place to live?”

The words indeed generate hope that this could be an avenue to learn from our past and work on the present to create a better future with Green Architecture.

The Team

The three main agencies involved in the project are as below:

Mars Society- A space advocacy organization dedicated to exploration and human settlement on Mars, in addition to educating the public, the media and the governments with respect to habitation of the Red Planet.

SONet Network- (Sustainable Offworld Network)- An international team of scientists, academics and professionals dedicated to the development of sustainable human settlements on other worlds, especially Mars and Moon.

Architecture studio ABIBOO- The architecture and urban design consultant firm spearheading the research based innovative urban and architectural solution that must overcome various challenges posed by the extreme environment of Mars, including low gravity, high atmospheric pressure and lethal cosmic rays.

The Project

Construction of the five city settlement is expected to commence in 2054 to be ready for habitation by 2100.

After the initial phase of investments and supplies from Earth, the cities are expected to be self-reliant and self-sustainable using local resources on Mars, without depending on Earth for any aspects of habitation related to food, energy, building materials, or transportation.

The settlement would have its capital city called Nüwa (named after a Chinese mythical Goddess), a vertical city with residential, commercial and green spaces; all planned on the walls of a rocky Martian cliff with access to water. The location on the sides of the cliff is ideal for protection from atmospheric pressure, fluctuating temperature and any harmful radiations, while getting ample natural light from the open valley side.

The support system of production, industry, food and energy generation is being planned on top of the cliffs or lower down in the valley.

Food requirement is expected to be met with agricultural cultivation of plants and microalgae, that will also, through photosynthesis, convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Light for the process of photosynthesis will be generated with LEDs.

Considering that Carbon Dioxide and water are available on Mars, these can be used to generate Carbon for further use in production of steel providing a suitable locally produced construction material for the development.

Electricity is expected to be generated through Solar panels.

Undoubtedly the settlement on Mars would require large cultivation areas, water resources, nutrients, oxygen and nitrogen. While I await to see how this project unfolds to achieve these requirements with Green Architecture, I do sincerely believe that the challenges, research and lessons learnt during the long term execution of this project would unveil new concepts for sustainable cities. Solutions and subsequent findings could be helpful for future sustainable planning on planet Earth as well.

Sources and References:

https://sonet-hub.com/mars-city-state-design-contest/

https://www.archyde.com/nuwa-the-spanish-speaking-capital-of-mars/

https://www.gqmiddleeast.com/travel-eats/construction-for-the-first-city-on-mars-planned-to-start-in-30-years

Image Credits

www.archyde.com

https://i0.wp.com/static4.abc.es/media/ciencia/2020/10/25/nuwa-k3d-1024x512@abc.jpg?ssl=1