Learning to live off the land on Mars

A recent article by NASA explains how they are preparing for the Journey to Mars. They are expanding beyond the spacecraft and propulsion systems to developing systems that use resources available in the solar system; it is called  in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). It focuses on turning a planet’s atmosphere and soil into building materials for shelters to rocket fuel for the trip back to Earth.

The ISRU process

1. Prospect before mining to see if anything of value is there. NASA is planning an orbital mission with instruments on board to look for water in the soil using remote sensing. 
2. Use rovers on the surface to confirm the presence of needed resources. Resources such as water ice, metals and regolith will be available in great supplies whether planning to work on the moon, Mars or other destinations.
3. A first step is the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE), currently in development. It will feature a rover that would map lunar volatiles, drill to extract samples and process water and other volatiles. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. These elements can be separated to operate fuel cells to create electricity; creating a power plant on a distant destination. 

Mars basics

Near the poles of Mars, temperatures can plummet to minus 195 degrees Fahrenheit. However, near the Red Planet’s equator, a summer day could be a pleasant 70 degrees. The atmosphere on Mars is about 95 percent carbon dioxide.

A mission to the Red Planet would be about six to nine months each way, plus the time spent on the surface, making it important to use available resources.

Read the full article Pioneering Space Requires Living Off the Land in the Solar System.

This artist's concepts depicts an example of a construction strategy from Contour Crafting and University of Southern California. The approach was selected by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Project. Contour Crafting technology has potential for building safe, reliable and affordable lunar and Martian structures, habitats, laboratories and other facilities. Contour Crafting construction systems are being developed that exploit in-situ resources and can utilize regolith as construction material. Credits: Contour Crafting and University of Southern California