The past is the locomotive that pulls the future.
Yellow Arrow (Victor Pelevin) Theinternational group Mars Society has announced a competition for the project of a self-sufficient colony on the red planet. The main prize is $ 10,000. The conditions of the competition are simple, and based on them I tried to draw up a basic plan of the colony. Interesting? Details under the cut.The text of the project terms from the Mars Society looks like this.The Mars Society is pleased to announce the holding of an international competition for the best project of the city-state of Mars with a population of 1,000,000 people. There will be a prize of $ 10,000 for first place, $ 5,000 for second, $ 2,500 for third, $ 1,000 for fourth and $ 500 for fifth. In addition, the top 20 articles will be published in the new book, Mars States: New Societies for a New World.
The city state should be as self-sufficient as possible, that is, rely on the minimum mass of imports from the Earth. To do everything that people need on Earth, more than 1,000,000 people are required, so participating teams will need to increase both the number and variety of available workforce through the use of robots and artificial intelligence.
Teams will need to be able to produce basic bulk materials on Mars, such as food, fabrics, steel, glass and plastic, and make them into useful structures, so three-dimensional printing and other advanced manufacturing techniques will be needed.
The goal is for the city state to produce all food, clothing, housing, electricity, consumer goods, vehicles and cars for a population of 1,000,000 with a minimum number of key components, such as advanced electronics, that are needed will import from Earth.
As already noted, imports will always be necessary, so teams will need to think about useful exports - either tangible or intellectual products,which the colony could produce and transport or transport back to Earth to pay for them. In the future, it can be expected that when using SpaceX or similar technology, the cost of delivering goods from Earth to Mars will be $ 500 / kg, and the cost of delivering goods from Mars to Earth is $ 200 / kg. In accordance with these assumptions, the team’s job is to design the economy, evaluate its value and show that after a certain initial investment of time, money and effort, it can become successful.
There is no need for a city-state to be built in one place on the surface of Mars.This can be done in this way, or, if necessary, you can create one or more central cities, supported by remote bases on Mars or its moons.
When scoring points for state projects, points will be distributed according to the following scheme:
30 points; technical design: which engineering systems will be used? How will they work?
30 points on economic indicators: how to make a city state economically successful?
20 points: social / cultural / political: what should Martian society be like? What types of schools, arts, sports and other activities should be? How, if you start all over again, can you make life on Mars better than life on Earth? How should a city-state be managed?
Aesthetics at 20 points: How to make a city-state an attractive and enjoyable place to live?
The Mars Society competition is open to all people from all over the world. Participants can work alone or as a team . Each participant will have to submit a report in no more than 20 pages representing his plan, no later than June 30, 2020. Then a preliminary selection will be made for the top 10 proposals, the authors of which will be invited to personally submit them to the panel of judges selected by the Mars Society at the 23rd annual conference of the International Mars Society in Los Angeles in October 2020.
To help develop ideas, participants may want to consider a number of sources, including SpaceX plans, NASA data, Robert Zubrin’s books “The Mars Case” and “The Space Case”, as well as the concept of a base for 1,000 people on Mars colonies. The Mars Society Prize Competition for 2019, recently published in the journal Mars Colonies: Plans to Settle the Red Planet [paperback]
A website will soon be posted to register for the State Design Competition in Mars City and download reports.
According to the terms of the competition, there are only 20 pages for the description of the project, which means that not many elements of the colony’s structure can be described. Part will be described in this article.The project is called IIM (this is an abbreviation that stands for Artificial Intelligence of Mars - the main element of the colony).Water, a place for a colony, energy
You need to start with the main thing - water! This element on Mars is presented in the form of ice, and many projects propose to produce H2O precisely by extracting its solid phase state. Simply put, "melt ice." The idea is certainly brilliant, if not for some of the nuances of this matter in the form of purity of the original material, which ultimately will affect the quality of water. The ice is not always clean ... and this, if we do not take into account the factor of a possible biological "infection" of ice, i.e. thus, we run the risk of actually killing the “Martians,” or worse, will get infected with some alien virus.What is the way out of this situation? The solution is simple and only possible for Mars - to collect moisture from the fog! More specifically, the morning fog that rises above the Mariner Valley every day.
Of course, the logical question “how to collect this fog?” Arises further, and here it is worth recalling that on Earth such technologies have already been tested on real condensation units of atmospheric moisture!Condensation technology suitable for use on Mars.
One option looks like this.A simpler version remade from the WMS1000 windmill. (there is a high probability that the movable masses of the fog wind can be used to produce energy if there is no need for water).In ancient times, even simpler devices were used to condense moisture from the air in the form of condensation wells .
It is logical to place a base for a million colonists in this foggy area. It is best to build it in the Labyrinth of Night (this is due to the most convenient logistics with the rest of the future colony).One of the possible alternatives to energy supply will be Martian lightning rods assembled at the edges of canyons using Shukhov’s tower technology (they will also be used as solar wells to illuminate indoor spaces and greenhouses). The source of energy - lightning will be Martian devils , which contain a sufficient charge of static electricity. That is why, even during the Martian dust storms, light due to external energy will appear at the base, but already due to the use of electricity of the “devils”.Shukhov’s towers will also become catapults for G.'s drones for delivering them over long distances by launching them upward (this will also serve as a way to spin the blades without using fuel). The key element for ensuring the durability of openwork structures and Shukhov towers will be connectors made on a 3D printer.The main source of energy for II M will be nuclear power plants. Placing blocks on Mars can be made as safe as possible by installing them separately from the main base in the canyon faults, additionally saving on radiation protection due to the rock walls around. The efficiency of nuclear power plants will be several times higher than on Earth due to the use of heat to heat the colony., . , .
- . , .
So, we have water ... there is energy. How to build a colony further? The question is complex, especially if you remember that the further development of the base directly depends on the ability to “dig, dig and dig again”, and a bulldozer and other tunneling equipment is not so easy to deliver to Mars, and even more so to maintain.There are many options to reduce the dependence on heavy equipment (more on that below), but there is one good way already tested on our home planet, which is most convenient to use on the 4th planet.“This” is rock cutting (the consumable is mainly plain water in this case), and in addition to this process, the rock is fused with an oxygen-hydrogen flame.Facts on the industrial use of hydro-cutting tunneling machines.
— 1935 , . , 7000 , 1939 «» - . , . 1980- , — .
The associated process with the creation of tunnels for living space will be the organization of metal smelting from the breed of tunnels. For melting at metallurgical plants it will be possible to use hydrogen, or a mixture of natural gas with hydrogen, which can be obtained from water.Earlier, I mentioned the development of this smelting technology on Earth.
Now the most promising can be considered the organization of the smelting of various foams (foam metals, foam glass).
Metal foam has already been discussed on the hubTo create a plan for the development of production tunnels in the Night Maze, the colony will have to conduct high-quality geological exploration.
To search and study the location of minerals, you can use various options for Geo-exploration Drones in the form of a helicopter or plane.. , .
literally, the word im is translated as “a pile of stones”, which in general reflects the essence of the construction strategy of the colony.Construction work in the colony can be divided conditionally into internal and external.It is precisely because of the need for external work in the colony that will use avatars-robots similar in appearance to the Feday robot, but much more functional due to the larger number of hands. Outwardly, this will resemble Shiva from India, with the exception of one feature characteristic only of Martian robots ... namely, the placement of the arms of the manipulators behind the head in the lower part of the torso-body (this is necessary for better work of the avatar, since in fact this robot will be a kind of Siamese twin with two builders-operators in one "body").Internal work will be done by robots similar in appearance, but much smaller, and under the control of artificial intelligence. The work of these robots is simple - put the processed rock stones into the masonry of the interior.About the same will be done by robots on Mars, but with much larger stones.A small steam drill will be used to create openings and holes in the walls. This construction tool will be needed primarily for processing various pipes inside the walls, which will serve as light wells for lighting the base. These pipes will not carry steam or any liquid, but will serve as sources of transmission of light and laser beams for communication.The technology of transmitting light into rooms through mirrors has already been tested on Earth.Mirrors inside pipes for communication and room lighting to save wiring and bulbs. Inside the pipes, ozone is used to trap harmful ultraviolet radiation (part of the light enters the light pipe in the afternoon from external surface mirrors).Light sources - electric LEDs or incandescent lamps.An additional source of light energy is external mirrors and gas lamps (burning gas gives light and heat to heat individual points of the lighting pipe network).Transport
The transport of the Martian city is ... a single-rail engine, bicycles and dog-like robots (similar to Spot from Boston Dynamics). This is the main transport, if you do not take into account the entertainment.Of course, the same Drones can be used to move outside the base, but this is already risky due to the radiation background of the planet and is likely to be the exception than the rule.For shorter trips within the base, bicycles can be used. These bicycles will be used by Frankenstein robots (RF robots) at night to travel long distances.
The same bicycle in stationary condition will serve as a simulator or a pedal generator!But back to mass transport i.e. first, to a steam locomotive that will be responsible for transporting the bulk of the cargo and passengers inside the IIM tunnels.At first glance, the proposal to use one rail for a steam locomotive seems strange, but if you recall one historical fact from the beginning of the 20th century, this would be a perfectly reasonable decision.Gyroscope locomotive Shilovsky
1921 « » 15 — « X . — — .
. 150 .
, 250 . . , — 50 ( — 400 ). 150 /. .
12 ( ), - . 1922 .
Of course, modern technology would make this steam engine more practical by using gyroscopes as UPSs. Given the lower gravity on Mars and more advanced materials, the efficiency of the engine would be higher. Additionally, higher train characteristics would provide operating conditions in the tunnel, where it would be possible to maintain optimal negative temperature and air pressure for the operation of the steam engine.A little about the efficiency of the engine ...«» , , 8%. 25–30%. , « » , 55–65%.
34%.
Moving around the colony will not necessarily be on the surface inside the base.There will be fast and entertaining transport in the form of various variations of air transport.The first is the likeness of a jetpack on a mixture of gases.The second is hydrogen mini-airships.... and the third (purely entertaining) is the various types of muscular overhead mahogany.Thus, a person’s dream to fly in the likeness of Icarus will be realized in reality!The fact is that gravity on Mars is much lower than on Earth, more precisely, it is 62% lower. This means that Martian gravity is 38% of Earth. A man weighing 100 kg, on Mars would weigh 38 kg. Therefore, a jetpack, a balloon and wings for flight will create sufficient lift on Mars with a relatively small size.Food, clothing, shoes
The food on I.I. Me will be quite diverse, contrary to the opinion of the obligatory diet of the colonists. In the end, nutrition is not only the process of entering the necessary elements into the body, but also a certain pleasure from the process (which, in the face of great psychological risks, becomes an even more important factor than on Earth).The menu of standard products will be significantly expanded.How will this whole gastronomy festival be provided? Definitely hard to say ... but if you recall the movie The Matrix, my hint will be more clear (more specifically, the dialogue between Cypher and Smith ). In general, the brain implant in colonists will have enhanced functions.The truth will be the moment of reality in this realm of partial virtuality.One of the real products is hemp!. . , , , . . , . , , , , , .
Erythróxylum cóca, ).
In addition to cannabis food, you can make a ton of other useful things.The next real product will be different types of mushrooms! Champignons, oyster mushrooms, mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, fly agarics, etc.There is a technology for the production of mushrooms even bricks!One of the options for NZ (untouchable reserve) will be ... edible lichens on the walls of the colony! If there is a lack of food in the colony, it will literally be "eat the walls."Option NZ No. 2 will be the Opuntia cactus, which will perform, like the moss on the walls, mainly a decorative function, and along the way serve as a source of food, medicine, tequila.Mushrooms, like hemp, will be the basis for medicines.If this inspires thoughts about the use of these "grebes" only by people, then in vain! The second and main material for fabrics will be silk from Nephila silkworm spiders.Fact10 , , . , , DuPont, , . - , .
, , . , .
XVIII . , , 1 55-60 . , .
Silk can also be used as a conductor of electricity after the addition of graphene.
How is this related to mushrooms? It’s difficult to understand directly, but the logical chain here is that mushrooms serve as a substitute for LSD under which spiders weave a more perfect web, which is easier to collect.
The last exotic kind of real food will be - beetles!Beetles serve as a source of food, and a partial source of protein due to periodic operations of cutting off the growing parts of the beetle.Beetles are used in difficult conditions with the danger of increased radiation, etc. For digging channels and transporting the necessary parts.If necessary, reduce the cost of maintaining bugs they are transferred to suspended animation.Insects will be difficult, and multiply increased due to the increased oxygen content in the breeding greenhouses and their work places. This will allow to carry out work on the construction of holes and increase the amount of “meat” for food without a multiple increase in the number of controlled insects (the implant in the brain will be reusable, and the number of controlled insects will have reasonable limits).There are true minor difficulties in choosing specific arthropods for the mission of increasing size. experiment with oxygen and bugs.
A simpler source of protein will be Golden Jellyfish grown in separate ponds. Their "crystal" meat is incredibly healthy.According to doctors, the body of the jellyfish contains almost the entire table of Mendeleev's elements in the proportions necessary for health.It contains easily digestible proteins, fats, carbohydrates, manganese, chromium, iron, aluminum, copper, titanium, selenium and about 17 amino acids, tissues are rich in vitamins A and B.Women especially appreciate jellyfish dishes for their collagen (protein, providing skin elasticity), and men get a powerful stimulating effect, since jellyfish, due to selenium, chromium and manganese included in its meat, is considered an unsurpassed aphrodisiac, known since ancient times.In Russia, the jellyfish was called "sea fat.". , , - , .
The last edible plant will be ... bamboo (more precisely, its young shoots). Bamboo fibers can be used to make clothes, wallpaper, furniture and bicycle frames.Robots, AI, implants
After describing the issues of the material basis of the base, it is worth mentioning the psychological basis of the main element - the colonists!To control a huge number of colony processes, I.I. (the name of this system for communicating with the colonists is Orlangur), and for a more accurate forecast of development, he will interact with each colonist separately through a neuralink type brain implant from Ilon Mask.The name of the human brain implant is BES- BES (Battle Encoder Shirase), . — «».
In addition to interaction with the central I.I. the implant will control the physical. Characteristics of the human body for diagnosis and assistance to the colonist, as well as responsible for interacting with robots.Some of the colonists will be a kind of semi-cyborgs already on Earth due to prosthetic legs and possibly one arm. This is necessary to ensure less body weight and a greater heart resource due to the reduced biological body mass.Leg and arm prostheses are not just an element of saving in weight and calorie consumption by humans - they are also part of the Frankenstein Robots (these robots are formed at night from the legs and arms of prostheses to work at night when the colonist is sleeping).Russian robots will be not only an independent element, but also part of the colonist himself in the form of an expanded exoskeleton that from the outside will resemble the likeness of a centaur.The same exoskeleton-robot-RF will be used by I.I. as a rider on the second most important element of the base - giant beetles. In this case, the robot will ride on the back of the insect and collect food in the habitat of the beetle (Carboniferous period Greenhouse).The Carboniferous period of the Earth was 360 million years ago and had features of an atmosphere similar to the Martian., , . .
300 , , , . Geology.
, . , , , , .
, , , .
, , — , — , , .
300 , , , .
, , — , .
, , 300 , , , . , , .
, , , . — , , — , .
« , , , 300 », — - (Mehrdad Sardar Abadi).
, .
« - , , „“ », — (Gerilyn Soreghan), .
In beetles, of course, the same will be an implant in the brain , which will serve as a controller for this insect to perform a number of functions.Beetle Implant Name - Cordyceps— ..
Society structure
In primitive communal society, one can consider the signs of socialism - at the beginning of the colony era, the conditions of survival will force a similar mixture of the formation of society.I.I. I will be forced to work on the formation of such a general structure of society in which the maximum interchangeability of each element of a person in most necessary professions will be achieved. Lenin's “study, study and study again” in II Me will be expanded by the complement “and all this in order to survive”.The risks of losing people are huge, and therefore, the colonists simply can not afford to live only their profession. The change of occupation will be justified not only by increasing the interchangeability of the colonists, but also by basic care for the psychological health of people (after all, the colonists and their children will not have pensions and even to some extent the “childhood” period, due to the inability to spend resources “idle”) .The incentive to overcome the difficulties of the first colonists.
Musk dreams of "dying on Mars" ... this dream will surely be close to many other first colonists of the planet.In the case of the realization of this dream, only the question arises of the final form of this event, namely the process of sending to the “last path”.One option is the cryogenic storage of the dead in ice in the likeness of the pharaohs, i.e., parade. To perpetuate the descendants of the first humans on Mars.
If this idea is liked by many earthlings, then in the future it may even become a kind of income item for Martian society (import of the dead from the Earth for burial on Mars).Unlike some earthly burial places, the burial dates in this place can not be limited.
Import Export
1. I.I. we need servers for storing and processing data, as well as sensors and video cameras on robots from the Earth in exchange for ... broadcasting video content from Mars and storing data from the earth (servers on Mars are protected from the influence of states, etc.).2. Ritegi and others to nuclear power plants in exchange for ... gold, platinum and rare earths from metallurgy-geology.3. Spare parts for spacesuits, a 3D printer and implantable electronics in exchange for ... spider silk and souvenirs from beetles, stones and other exclusive colony artifacts (sale for a collection of paintings, statues and non-functioning elements or outdated elements of the colony).What's next?
Of course, on the construction of the colony the exploration of Mars will not end, and in the future there will be three more colonies + one in orbit (objects APA, Zevs, Alba + Olympus star).These bases will solve a number of problems.- . ( , , . — .)
- . ( )
- . ( — ).
- ( ).
- . ( 1- 2- ).
- . (1 )
PS - The IMI project is currently in the stage of growing number of participants. There is a great need for designers, system developers and translators to develop the concept of the colony.Recently, specialists from the South Harmon Institute of Technology have offered their help , but I am open for cooperation with other universities of all other countries of the world.