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Jul 09, 2015
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Never imagined… life on MARS… What’s the need of such things?
increasing pollution… increasing population…
increasing need of resources… increasing land demands… this is DEVELOPMENT ?
What’s this ?
What things are needed to go and
settle on
MARS?
Possibility of existence on MARS
Based on scientific evidence, collected by satellites and the NASA Rovers, conditions are not "hospitable" to humans or life as we know it.
Antarctica has temperatures that are comparable, though MARS is colder, but other environmental circumstances are very unlike those of Earth, in fact would be deadly to most life as we know it.
These include greatly reduced air pressure, an atmosphere that has 95% carbon dioxide, virtually no oxygen (compared to Earth's 21% oxygen and almost no carbon dioxide), reduced gravity, and no liquid water (although amounts of frozen water have been detected).
Despite this, some consider MARS to be "habitable," but only if life support measures are taken. People would need to live in artificial environment. Man might one day step foot on MARS and scout around, but it's unknown if man could ever adapt to living on MARS as a permanent resident.
Let’s develop…
Come…
let’s go to MARS!!!
Development
Introduction
Habitat
Pressure Management and Temperature
Structure
Architecture
Survival of Plants on MARS
Water on MARS
Transportation
Minerals in MARS
Energy Sources
Clothes to wear
Communication
Conclusion
Introduction The basic necessity of Life - Food, Shelter & Cloth.
Main factors for survival of human beings is food which includes three major components – Glucose, Amino acids, Fatty acids.
Habitat is one of the factor as to protect us from the variable climate, seasons of the planet MARS as same as the Earth.
Clothes are necessitate to protect from environment of MARS.
Other requirements of energy are for Transportation, Communication, Electrical appliances etc.
Earth don’t have the same physical conditions as MARS have.
MARS have different pressure, different temperature, different gravitation etc.
To manage these necessities, we have thought some great ideas.
Now have a look at all these ideas.
Habitat Habitat is a basic obligation for survival of human beings.
On MARS for the survival of habitat we have to control climate, temperature, pressure and prevent us from UV rays.
These all is feasible with only specialized structure of the resident. Following is the hypothesis for habitat on MARS The shape of dome should be hemisphere consisting of hexagonal
structure. The reason being hexagonal columns equalize pressure in all the directions as in honeycombs.
Specialty of this structure is that it can withstand great pressure without collapsing. Thus helping in making a perfect home in the harsh land of MARS.
Structure of Hexagonal Dome is given below. Height and breadth of this cupola will be quite large as to setup
population of about 100,000 in each dome. Hexagonal columns in each dome will be ranging from 10,000 to
15,000 i.e. number of domicile.
Pressure management and Temperature Inside the dome, we will create pressure and temperature similar to Earth as
temperature and pressure of MARS varies from Earth. To manage it, a concept that comes around is : A very strong electromagnet is planted in the core of hexagonal dome which
creates magnetic pressure in huge proportion. The pressure so created will be allocated equally among hexagonal columns. For increasement of temperature solar and electrical heaters can be used. Following is the table showing MARS and Earth’s atmospheric pressure and
temperature.
Where, P is pressure B is Magnetic field strength µ0 is Vacuum permeability
Pressure created by magnetic field is given by -
Specialized pressure
management chamber
Second Way:- Dome
As on earth, the constructions on the MARS would be of two major categories. Residential one Industrial one. One thing would be same in them that, the support would be of iron, and as usual, the walls would be of poly fibres.
Hexagonal structures are made of Flakes.
But what are this flakes made of ? Let`s discover this
Iron
Chromel nanoparticle
(90%Nickel+10%chromium)
Glass
Zinc Oxide
nanoparticles (80%)
and Chromel
nanoparticles (20%)
Structure Material used for exterior of dome should be transparent, resistant
to UV rays and liquid methane, strong and stable. So, to satisfy the said requirements. The surface of hexagonal flakes is made of Glass which coated with
a layer of a affluence called Zinc Oxide and Chromel nanoparticles in the ratio of 4:1 per 100 parts respectively.
Zinc Oxide nanoparticles is used because it absorbs and reflects UV radiations at the same time.
Chromel is used because it resists liq. CH4. The ring is made of iron, which is coated with Chromel
nanoparticles.
Survival of plants on MARS
A good management is required to make plants survive the climate of MARS.
Firstly a dome shaped structure should be constructed which can distinct from the outer environment.
Next a technique should be improvised in a way that it can regulate the concentration of air inside the fixed area under the dome.
This would produce a environment which can manage pressure inside dome as earth.
Next vital factor is water which can be brought from the water sources present on MARS with the help of underground pipeline drip irrigation system.
Nitrogen fixation is also important for plants which can be done by a bacteria named Anabaena flos-aquae flos-aquae
It fixes nitrogen in soil and also help in maintaining fertility of soil.
Anabaena variabilis produces H2 , O2 and sucrose with the help of H2O and CO2 . It helps to reduce the CO2 in dome.
Sucrose can be used as food and H2 as fuel where 1gm produces 141kJ of energy.
O2(less
amount)
NO2
CO2
O2(large
amount
Plants
Dome
Anabaena
variabilis
Robots for collecting food
Water
Anabaena
flos-aquae
flos-aquae
Drip irrigation
Requirements of plants Plant’s concentration of essential elements
may exceed the critical concentrations. The minimum concentration required for
growth may vary somewhat from species to species.
Nonetheless, the following table gives the general requirements of plants:
Element Symbol mg/kg percent Relative number
of atoms
Nitrogen N 15,000 1.5 1,000,000
Potassium K 10,000 1.0 250,000
Calcium Ca 5,000 0.5 125,000
Magnesium Mg 2,000 0.2 80,000
Phosphorus P 2,000 0.2 60,000
Sulphur S 1,000 0.1 30,000
Chlorine Cl 100 -- 3,000
Iron Fe 100 -- 2,000
Boron B 20 -- 2,000
Manganese Mn 50 -- 1,000
Zinc Zn 20 -- 300
Copper Cu 6 -- 100
Molybdenum Mo 0.1 -- 1
Nickel Ni 0.1 -- 1
Note :Concentrations whether in mg/kg (=ppm, parts per million) or Percent (%), are always based on the weight of dry matter, instead of the fresh weight. Fresh weight includes both the weight of the dry matter and the weight of the water in the tissue.
Nutrients in Martian soil Martial soil consists of following minerals (nutrients) Olivine Pyroxene Feldspar Apatite Titanomagnetite These all minerals provide given nutrients. Nutrients from them can be extracted by Industrial
process and provided to pants in form of fertilizers.
Nitrogen Potassium Calcium Magnesium Phosphorous Sulphur Chlorine
Iron Boron Manganese Zinc Copper Molybdenum Nickel
CO2
CO2
CO2 +O2 + NO2
O2
O2
PAMGA
O2 gas manager
gas
manager
Barometer
Pressure
manager
Pressure from outside
enters inside a separated
chamber.
Trees planted.
As the pressure inside the dome needs to be maintained, the exposure of high pressured air outside and low pressured air inside can not be afforded. Specially sealed chambers can be created to avoid such conditions. This is shown diagrammatically below - Dome
After man entered, the
chamber is sealed and
pressure is matched.
Now man entered,
and the pressure
too not fluctuated.
Air
Air Air
Water on MARS At present water on MARS exists only as ice in the Martian
polar ice caps and in the shallow subsurface at high temperate latitudes.
More than five million cubic kilometers of ice have been identified on the surface of modern MARS, enough to cover the whole planet to a depth of 35 meters. Even more is likely to be locked away in the deep subsurface.
A small amount of water vapour(0.07%) is present in the atmosphere.
Surface soil on the red planet contains 2 percent water by weight. That means roughly 1 liter of water can be extracted out of every 0.03 cubic meters of Martian soil dig up.
Numerous direct and indirect proofs of water presence either on or under the surface, in the form of dry stream beds, polar caps & glaciers are found.
Radar and Spectroscopic measurements, eroded craters and weathered minerals directly connected to the past existence of liquid water.
Several MARS orbiters have detected the basins of ancient lakes, river valley sand, glaciations.
Landers and rovers directly analyzed soil and water ice from the shallow subsurface.
Martian sky with water ice
clouds.
Hypothesis
Our hypothesis is that the plant being watered using the under ground watering system will help to keep the evaporation down to a minimum and the water will go to where it is needed most at the roots.
Moreover it will help to get the water right to the roots where the water is needed the most.
The second way is to water the plants with a soaker hose. This way will bring the water right to the base of the plant where it is also needed. The water will then percolate in to the soil to the roots.
As we have less water on MARS so this system of HYPOTHESIS will work the best.
Transportation Foremost question that stands before us is -How to reach
MARS ? The answer is with the help of space shuttle. But the next question that arises is - quality and quantity of
Fuel required to transfer the essential materials to MARS . The answer is H2, one of the best known source of Energy to
man. It can be obtained by the decomposition of Water present in Oceans.
This seems very reasonable but producing H2 from water isn't so easy. Huge amount of energy is required to perform electrolysis of water to provide sufficient amount of H2 which can give energy to move the shuttle at a velocity of 11.3Km/sec.
The problem is resolved by the Solar energy as it is used by plants.
Second question is - How to move on the surface of MARS?
On MARS the roads and railways can’t be built because of their low acceleration due to gravity i.e. 3.71 m2/s.
The solution for the problem is Use of air transportation with the
help of aeroplanes and jet planes which can run on hydrogen gas which has high calorific value i.e. 141 kJ/g.
We can synthesize Hydrogen gas by electrolysis of water and can use bacteria Anabaena variabilis who absorb CO2 and give H2.
Another proposed way is Maglev Train, Maglev Cars, Maglev buses.
Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation) is a method of propulsion that uses magnetic levitation to propel vehicles with magnets rather than with wheels, axles and bearings. With maglev, a vehicle is levitated a short distance away from a guide way using magnets to create both lift and thrust.
N S N S N S
N S N S N S
S N
S N
Magnet Bogie
Their non-reliance on traction and friction means that acceleration and deceleration can surpass that of wheeled transports, and they are unaffected by weather.
The power needed for levitation is typically not a large percentage of the overall energy consumption.
They are economically affordable than wheeled train’s maintenance.
They provide higher speed of 500 kph to 581 kph which is much greater than other wheeled trains or cars.
Advantages of Maglev
Minerals in MARS It has been accepted by the scientific community that meteorites
came from MARS represent actual samples of the planet. Samples have been analyzed on Earth and many valuable elements
have been detected in it. MARS landers Viking I, Viking II, Pathfinder, Opportunity Rover,
and Spirit Rover identified aluminium, iron, magnesium, and titanium in the Martian soil.
Opportunity Rover found small structures, named "blueberries" which were found to be rich in hematite, a major ore of iron.
Dark sand dunes on the surface of MARS contained volcanic rock called basalt. Basalt dunes are believed to contain the valuable minerals chromite, magnetite, and ilmenite. Since the wind has gathered them together, they do not even have to be mined, merely scooped up.
On Earth, vast volcanic landscapes are called "large Igneous Provinces" (LIP's); such places are sources of nickel, copper, titanium, iron, platinum, palladium, and chromium. MARS's Tharsis region, which contains a group of giant volcanoes, is considered to be an LIP.
Magnesium, Aluminium, Titanium, Iron, and Chromium are relatively common in Martian soil.
In addition, lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, niobium, molybdenum, lanthanum, europium, tungsten, and gold have been found in trace amounts.
Energy Sources As already informed, the concentration of greenhouse gases is higher in the atmosphere of MARS. So, generating energy by conventional energy sources is madness. Some of the most recommended non-conventional energy sources are mentioned below. Solar energy Wind energy Geothermal energy Hydrogen Generator The following points are discussed in detail in the coming slides.
Solar energy
Solar Power is a candidate for power for a Martian colony. Solar insolation (the amount of solar radiation that reaches MARS) is about 42% of that on Earth, since MARS is about 52% farther from the Sun and insolation falls off as the square of distance. But the thin atmosphere would allow almost all of that energy to reach the surface as compared to Earth, where the atmosphere absorbs roughly a quarter of the solar radiation. Sunlight on the surface of MARS would be much like a moderately cloudy day on Earth.
Wind energy Heard of the news of huge sand storms on the Martian climate. It comes to the conclusion that, winds exist in the atmosphere of MARS. So, by making large area spread wind farms, the wind energy can be harnessed. It is a best source of non-conventional energy as no Carbon dioxide is being produced in the process of generating such energy.
Geothermal Energy The core and mantle of MARS contains large amount of heat energy stored in it. This energy can be utilized for the production of electricity. The hotspots are places where such energy can be most probably in the largest amount. Hence, the electricity generated is produced without Carbondioxide or other such gases. Hence, it can be considered as one of the good non-conventional sources of energy on the harsh environments of MARS.
Hydrogen Generator The Hydrogen Generator is a machine that generates electricity from hydrogen. It is fueled by hydrogen produced in a electrolytic separator - 160 kJ of power will be produced from 1600 units of hydrogen (a full storage tank). The generator also has an internal storage capacity of 400 kJ, though once this is reached, it can still store 18000 units of hydrogen to be processed into energy later. Hydrogen do not emits any air pollution, thus it is a good energy source.
Cloths to wear A space suit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Requirements also apply to pressure suits worn for other specialized tasks, such as high-altitude reconnaissance flight. Above Armstrong’s line (around 19,000 m (62,000 ft.)), the atmosphere is so thin that pressurized suits are needed. A space suit must perform several functions to allow its occupant to work safely and comfortably, inside or outside of a spacecraft.
It must provide: A stable internal pressure-This can be less than earth's
atmosphere, as there is usually no need for the space suit to carry nitrogen (which comprises about 78% of earth's atmosphere and is not used by the body).
Lower pressure allows for greater mobility, but requires the suit occupant to breathe pure oxygen for a time before going into this lower pressure, to avoid decompression sickness.
Mobility-Movement is typically opposed by the pressure of the suit; mobility is achieved by careful joint design.
Supply of breathable oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide; these gases are exchanged with the spacecraft or a Portable Life Support System(PLSS)
Temperature regulation-Unlike on Earth, where heat can be transferred by convention to the atmosphere, in space, heat can be lost only by thermal radiation or by conduction to objects in physical contact with the exterior of the suit. Since the temperature on the outside of the suit varies greatly between sunlight and shadow, the suit is heavily insulated, and air temperature is maintained at a comfortable level.
A communication system, with external electrical connection to the spacecraft or PLSS
Means of collecting and containing solid and liquid bodily waste (such as a Maximum Absorbency Garment)
Communication Communications with Earth are relatively straight
forward when the Earth is above the Martian horizon. NASA and ESA includes communication’s relay equipment in several of the MARS orbiters.
Thus MARS already has communication satellites. While these will eventually wear out, additional orbiters with communication relay capability are likely to be launched before any colonization expeditions are mounted.
Another Question that arises is – Contact with people already on MARS.
Answer is – With the help of satellite phones. We can send a message with the help of mobile tower inside a dome and by satellites and towers outside it.
Dome
Tower to contact inside Dome
Tower to contact with
other tower
Wire Wire
Surface of MARS
Conclusion The key aspect of habitat design identified and explored, includes the habitat, location, design, construction method, facilities, power supply, material and consumable sources and life support system. Each is discussed in detail, including available alternative advantages and disadvantages.