My Mars Base 2 by shiver

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is my second design that uses part of the spacecraft for the buildings. They are pre built, connected together and removed after landing.
Not sure on the removal method but shoveling a mound of dirt and sliding each module down a slope 1 at a time would work, removing dirt as you go.
A small electric Bobcat would be very handy if price permits so doing this would be quick. It would also be helpful in shoveling soil into my soil heater to obtain water.
A small Bobcat would be useful as well in leveling the build area and carrying finished bricks from the brink making / H20 gathering building to the build area.
Bars for the geodesic dome would have seals where UV Coated plexiglass triangles are inserted to make it air tight. This rubber would have to withstand the degrading sunlight, otherwise a caulking material would also work. This way people can freely roam inside the dome from building to building without needing walkways and psychologically feel more open and not cramped. Remember that people will be there a long time it's important that they have a stable mindset for the success of the mission
I designed this Mars base with cost-effectiveness and stylistic comfort in mind.
The prelaunch of materials is necessary likely for any attempts to colonize Mars by sending oxygen, building material, solar cells, batteries etc. in advance of human landing.
My idea here contains not just buildings but how it can function as a whole. The problem of radiation I have looked at many different ways including digging into ancient Lava or building brick on top of the structures but this would be very costly and time-consuming. It is important to set up Water, Energy and 1 Dome as soon as possible.
Separate modules would shave solar panels installed on roofs before takeoff as well as all internal machinery needed, i.e. greenhouse section would already have plants growing, lighting, watering etc installed making setup on Mars quicker. and not as much need for a prelaunch of equipment.
The triangular plexiglass dome inserts are lined with the waterproof bags in the inside ( vacuum sealed for transport ) over the entire interior of every building and filled with liquid or liquid sand combination to limit radiation inside the buildings. Harder Beta Radiation can not be stopped even with Lead, so the plastic in the water Bags will do this job as well, the high concentration of Hydrogen in water will stop the more dangerous Neutron Radiation all simple and low cost.
Bringing excavating equipment and drills is really not logical or cost effective for a first settlement. Most of these vehicles require combustion engines and since there is very little oxygen on Mars these vehicles just wouldn't work. It's an effective way of limiting radiation without the billions in expenses to designing and building special machinery to drill and dig underground bases. The cost of carrying such massive machinery also is just too high for a first mission.
Most of the material used in building construction would be the Martian soil itself. By heating it compacting it and bringing additives to solidify it instead of bringing the building material. This would save billions in cost, power and spacecraft size. I then found that work done by Ames Research Center in Moffett Field in California show that using Sporosarcina pasteurii bacteria ( taken from Astronaut's urine ) can be used in making a type of cement solidifying soil in about 2 weeks to that of concrete.
Also in this process of heating Martian soil to make concrete, water may be be extracted at the same time in the same building using a distilling method. It's been proven that water ice exists on mars from the Spirit Rover's shallow soil dig tests. Existing equipment can separate Hydrogen and Oxygen as needed as well from this one collection method.
The main power source can be a larger version of the already tested and robust NASA Nuclear Thermocoupler. If power produced isn't enough I decided to use solar power along with wind power as well because there is an abundance of both on Mars and there is not always sun on Mars depending on the landing site. Landing closer to the poles where frozen liquid is more abundant but sunlight is a problem. If a large Thermocoupler/s could produce enough power it would make landing closer to abundant ice an easier decision then only solar or wind could be a backup power source.
With the wind turbines, I have designed a simple shielding around them that can be controlled by computer or manually to shut and enclose the turbines during heavy windstorms facing the direction of the wind to protect the Turbines.
I also situated them away from the base due to the psychological and physical effects of wind turbines low frequency and infrasound noise that disrupts sleep, causes dizziness, nausea and headaches. All which need to be avoided on a desolate environment.
Small domes can be built around the landing craft after they land to protect them from wind damage and radiation.
Martian soil has shown to be very effective in growing plants so Fertilizer would only need to be sent along with plants, seeds, bulbs, pots, lighting etc. or best, grown Hydroponically without the need for soil.
I tried to make it simple, yet aesthetically pleasing and spacious for the emotional and psychological well being of the Astronauts as well as self sustaining for long periods.
All ground piping, cabling and the Large Gas collection cansiters would be covered in Dirt once operational for Sun / wind shielding.
Astronaut model taken from Nasa's models site for an idea of scale