Tim Irwin

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Professor Doran
ENC 2135
8 November 2016
Mars Colonization
Mars colonization has been a reoccurring topic in today's society. Many people have
talked about it, and many companies are currently in the planning stage for actually traveling
there and setting up a colony. Mars colonization involves many aspects and has to include
intense planning and preparation because if one thing fails then a disaster might occur. Mars
colonization means what the name implies, setting up a colony on the planet Mars and being able
to sustain life and create a new civilization. However, there are problems we face both trying to
get there and actually setting up camp there. There are various issues we must overcome in order
to travel to Mars or travel into deep space in general which include radiation, life support
longevity, and much more. There are also issues with how certain companies and government
corporations are planning on getting there including technical issues and current technology
limits. Though once we are able to find solutions to these problems we will actually be able to
successfully travel to Mars and set up a self sustaining colony.
There are a few companies and/or government agencies out there that are trying to get to
Mars. Some include Mars One, SpaceX, Boeing, and NASA. Recently SpaceXs CEO Elon
Musk made a presentation explaining his plan on how to get to Mars. His presentation was called
Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species and it was posted to YouTube. His presentation goes
through various technical aspects of his plan including orbital refilling, propellant production,
and numerous engine components. Orbital refilling is the refueling of the spaceship in orbit
before it takes off for Mars (Making Humans). Propellant Production is the production of
rocket fuel so that we can produce fuel both on Earth and Mars (Making Humans). This is one

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of his main components in his plan. He says you really want to build a propellant plant on Mars
and send the spaceships back (Making Humans, 00:14:00-0014:05). He wants to use the
resources readily available on Mars to create fuel so that instead of having a massive graveyard
of ships, we can reuse the space ship more than once (Making Humans, 00:13:50-00:13:55).
He goes on to say Mars happens to work out well for that because it has a CO2 atmosphere, its
got water ice in the soil, and with H2O and CO2 you can produce CH4, methane, and O2
(Making Humans, 00:14:08-00:14:21). The atmosphere and materials on Mars allow us to
produce optimal fuel for the spaceship (Making Humans).
Mars One has the same idea of sending people to Mars, however their plan includes a one
way mission rather than being able to reuse their spaceship. In the research paper created by
Owens Do, Schreiner Ho, and Olivier de Weck titled An Independent Assessment of the
Technical Feasibility of the Mars One Mission Plan Updated Analysis, they discuss the
technical aspects and plan for the mission. They explain how the Mars One program plans on
having three separate launches. First launch is for a Multipurpose rover used for site
prospecting and clearing, habitat set up, crew transportation, and regolith collection for local
processing (Do, Ho, and de Weck 194). The second launch is for the Crew Habitat. The
habitat includes six modified Dragon modules connected with two inflatable units (Do, Ho,
and de Weck 194). The inflatables are used as living units and a crop growth area (Do, Ho,
and de Weck 194). The Dragon modules are used as life support units and supply units (Do,
Ho, and de Weck 195). The third launch is to send the crew. The crew consists of 4 trained
astronauts. This is different from the amount of people SpaceX plans to send, which is 100
(Making Humans). The two missions are different, however both have the same goal on
colonizing Mars.

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Another proposed way of traveling to Mars is to use cycler vehicles. This was proposed
by Longuski Landau and Buzz Aldrin in their paper titled Continuous Mars Habitation with a
Limited Number of Cycler Vehicles. Cycler vehicles are spaceships that continuously travel
between two planets and in this case, Mars and Earth. I like to think of it as the International
Space Station traveling to Mars and Earth continuously rather than always orbiting the Earth.
This proposed method would drastically reduce the amount of launches and missions to Mars.
The proposed plan includes keeping a certain percentage of people on Mars all the time (Landau
and Aldrin 122). There are a few different ways to do this which includes between one and three
vehicles. The Aldrin Cycler proposes to use two vehicles, one outbound and one inbound
(Landau and Aldrin 122). The idea is to have one ship going to Mars and one ship coming back
to Earth, with the two always in motion. This plan allows24 people on Mars 82% of the time
and 12 people on Mars 12% of the time (Landau and Aldrin 127). The ships will have
similar refueling techniques as Elon Musk's proposes, refueling while close to Earth so that the
vehicle does not have to re-enter the earths atmosphere and land.
Though the technical aspects seem relatively sound in design, there are a few problems
that need to be overcome in order to successfully undergo deep space travel, which includes
traveling to Mars. These issues include Radiation/space protection, oxygen generation, and
farming.
The issue with space radiation is extremely important. In a paper written by Blattnig
Straume and Cary Zeitlin titled Radiation Hazards and the Colonization of Mars, they discuss
the effects of space radiation and the current problems with space travel. The threshold for
serious health effects is in the 0.5-Sv range for high dose rate x rays or gamma rays (Straume
and Zeitlin 1). This means that the ideal dosage for radiation should be below this range,

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however the annual dose in interplanetary space from galactic cosmic radiation is about 0.73
Sv during solar minimum (Straume and Zeitlin 3). This means that the cosmic radiation at
times can increase to a certain amount that will cause serious health effects to humans. Eric R.
Taylor writes in his paper titled Human Deep-Space Travel and Colonization: Technical Issues,
Chronic exposure to the cosmic radiation may likely lead to mutations of human-borne bacteria,
fungi, and the like (162). In order to combat cosmic radiation we need to create some sort of
protection against it.
Another problem that needs to be addressed is the generation of oxygen while traveling
through space. Taylor says humans consume 20.2 mol of O2 per day. Which means that
depending on how many crew members there are, there needs to be a large amount of O2
supplied on the ship. A way to address this factor can be farming. In Taylors example she uses
corn. Corn produces 2.5 mol of O2 per day which means the area of corn required to produce
the daily oxygen consumption replenishment is 8.1 m2 per person (Taylor 156). However,
because humans produce CO2 while exhaling, the corn also needs to remove that CO2. This
means that to remove the daily CO2 per person, 43.6 m2 of corn bed per person is required
(Taylor 156). All of this is based on the usage of corn, however corn may not be the crop plant
of choice, though it is a very versatile crop plant (Taylor 156).
A factors that need to be taken into account when farming in space is gravity. In a paper
written by O. Monje , G. W. Stutte , G. D. Goins , D. M. Porterfield, and G. E. Bingham titled
Farming in Space: Environmental and Biophysical Concerns, they discuss the possibilities and
problems of farming in space. They say gravity affects the movement of heat, water vapor, CO2
and O2 between plant surfaces and their environment (Monje et al. 151). What needs to happen
is Earth-based cultural practices and crops must be adapted to grow optimally in new

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environments with new biophysical combinations (Monje et al. 154). The practices of current
farmers need to be changed to account for the effects of space. The farm on the spacecraft needs
to be designed to fit the needs of the crew, but also needs to be designed around the limited
amount of resources and space. Like the corn, the spacecraft must have an optimal amount of
space to provide atmospheric control of CO2 (Monje, et al. 155). Once many of these issues
are addressed programs and companies like SpaceX and Mars One will be able to successfully
travel to Mars.
Once the spacecraft and crew arrive on Mars they need to set up a settlement for them so
that they will be able to sustain life. Scientists have to look back at the history of Mars to see if it
ever once had life. In a paper written by Alfonso F. Davila and Dirk Schulze-Makuch titled The
Last Possible Outposts for Life on Mars, They discuss the possibilities and theories on life on
Mars. Their main theory is heavily based on the ecological adaptations to increasing dryness
observed in dryland ecosystems on Earth (Davila and Schulze-Makuch 159). The deserts of
earth can be analyzed and compared to Mars. If Mars and Earths deserts had similar ecological
adaptations, then we can propose that Mars once held life. This theory implies the possibility
of life on Mars until relatively recent times (Davila and Schulze-Makuch 159). With this
backing current techniques of colonizing Mars, we can conclude it might be possible to be able
to sustain life on Mars.
In a paper written by Mukbaniani, O. V. , Aneli, J. N. , Markarashvili, E. G. ,Tarasashvili
M. V. , and N. D. Aleksidze titled Polymeric Composites on the Basis of Martian Ground for
Building Future Mars Stations, They discuss the possibilities of establishing buildings based on
martian soil. Though Marss ground is dry and sandy, in order to set up a colony, the land must
be able to withstand the establishment of buildings via various constructive technologies, by

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modifying the ground of Mars with filler, epoxy resin (type ED-20) and tetraethoxysilane
TEOS (Mukbaniani et al. 155). These are the various constructive technologies that will
strengthen the martian based materials needed to create a colony. The use of Polymer
composites on the basis of epoxy resin with the AMG (Artificial Martian Ground) results in a
building material with high physical properties (mechanical strengthening, thermal stability and
water tightness) (Mukbaniani et al. 160). This allows future construction on Mars to be able to
use natural martian material with added components to withstand the martian climate. This is the
Long term shelter plan; to use the soil found on Mars to create building materials
(Achenbach). However, in order to effectively be able to produce these materials, an already
established base needs to be erected before future buildings can be constructed.
The Mars One mission has a plan for the initial phase of creating a colony. The plan they
have created is to have three different types of habitation units (Do et al. 195). They are the
Supply Units, Life Support Units, and Living Units. The Supply Unit, which as the name states,
store(s) supplies and spare equipment for the habitat (Do et al. 195). The Life Support Unit
contain(s) air revitalization, water processing and waste management technologies and stores
(Do et al. 195). The unit provides all necessary things to support life. The Living Units contain
a 500 m3 inflatable structure, an airlock for crew extravehicular activity, and the wet areas of the
habitat, such as the waste and hygiene compartment (Do et al. 195). The living area also counts
as a food production area as well.
There are a few additional problems with the establishment of a colony on Mars. One
thing that might not be necessarily the first thing that comes to mind, however, it is important, is
the lack of decomposition on the planet. This means the waste produced by humans does not
decompose on the planet. In the podcast titles Colonizing Mars the Cosmic Queries team discuss

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the aspects of mars colonization and this was a topic that was brought up. Organisms do the
decomposing which means that if Mars is sterile nothing decomposes (Cosmic Queries,
00:08:19-00:08:58). Waste will just stay in the ground. Besides the problem of waste, the
problem of gravity on Mars can affect future human life, if one is born on Mars. If someone
gives birth to a kind of human, that can breath a different mixture of oxygen or a variation that is
just natural to what goes on, they become the dominant strain of human species there, that's how
you end up speciating (Cosmic Queries, 00:40:00-00:40:17). The difference of the two planets
can cause a different strain of humans after a period of time. This is a problem if one wants to
travel between the two planets. The difference, though it might be small, can cause various
health conditions if they are there long enough. This can be seen with low gravity. Someone in
low gravity causes bones to waste away (Achenbach). The difference will affect humans if
they are on the planet for a long period of time. This, and many other problems, can be fixed
with something called terraforming. Terraforming is to change a planet to resemble the
characteristics of Earth. A simple way of terraforming is to plant crops on Mars because plants
require carbon dioxide, and their byproduct is oxygen, and since Marss atmosphere is
mostly carbon dioxide, this can allow for the slow process of changing Marss atmosphere to
include Oxygen and eventually change the characteristics of the planet (Cosmic Queries,
00:21:10-00:22:05). Though this is only a simple and long way of terraforming. There are many
other proposed ways to terraform Mars that involve things like nuclear bombs and power plants.
Many factors make up space travel and space colonization. There are not only many
technologies we need to create in order to make this idea a reality but there are also many issues
involved with traveling and colonizing. What needs to be done is to continue to do research on
space, Mars, and interplanetary travel. The way many companies are planning their missions are

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fantastic and they are helping, slowly, to make this dream happen. However because space is so
vast and there are still many things we do not understand about it, companies like SpaceX and
Mars One should not rush into setting up a colony. Without the necessary precautions and
preparation, a failure in the mission will result in injury, death, or maybe things we have not yet
foreseen. There needs to be a bigger uprising with more people being interested in this topic and
more people trying to find ways around solutions to problems with space travel and colonization
of planets that are unlike earth. With a collective interest in solving these problems, we can
accomplish a dream that seems like it came out of a science fiction movie.