(Last edited: Saturday, 30 September 2023, 10:38 PM)
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Short Definition:
A Mars habitat is a proposed idea to colonize Mars and establish an autonomous
colony. The horrid conditions of Mars will pose an almost insurmountable problem, where concrete solutions still elude us. In theory, Elon Musk said that a crewed
landing would occur in 2029, which Is still 6 years away, but this seems to be
an unachievable goal in the near future.
Detailed Definition:
A Mars habitat
would be a habitat on Mars where humans’ strife to be self-sufficient. In some
ways, Mars is even similar to the Earth, but it just differs in too many life essential
conditions. The mean temperature on Mars only reaches -63°C and the average
natural radiation levels are 40-50 times higher than on Earth due to the
missing Ozone layer on Mars. These conditions would be enough to classify it as
horrid, but the list goes on. Breathing normally is impossible due to the wrong
gas composition, and even the ground you would walk on is cancerous. Another
negative is the different gravitational pull, because Mars’ gravity only reaches 38% of
the gravity on Earth, which will lead to muscle atrophy and the necessity of
intensive sport programs.
These conditions
would make an underground base under frozen CO2 that could be harvested
from Mars and another layer of Mars soil a necessity to decrease the
chance of getting cancer. At the start of the colony, only nuclear could be used
as an energy option, because the varying conditions make others not effective and Mars as a whole is relatively energy poor.
To achieve self-sufficiency proves to be an insurmountable
problem, because even food will be hard to produce, because the soil does not have the needed nitrogen compounds and the
soil would have to be decontaminated. To make a Mars habitat is certainly possible,
but the feasibility and the ethicality have to be called into question.
Etymology:
Mars come from older
Latin (older than 75 BCE) Māvors which was used as god of war from Middle English
Habitat comes from Latin habitareà meaning habitat (it dwells)
Sample Sentence(s):
Mars habitats
would have to contend with surface conditions that include almost no oxygen in
the air, extreme cold, low pressure, and high radiation.
(Wikipedia)
