/sci/ - Science & Math

he only feasible method for creating lrge volumes of livable space on Mars within current techological constraints is to seal and pressurize lava tubes. Don't try to sennd habitats; the habitat is already there, waiting for us to move in. Seal with martian regolith concrete, add led grow lamps every 20 feet along the cieling, use a nuclear reactor lander to supply heat and power, fertilize the soil inside, plant crops, and wait. Eventually the plants will have consumed enough co2 and made enough oxygen that you can add insects, small animals, then humans. Once a balance is struck between animals and plants, you have a stable ecosystem. Want more crops without adding more people? Pipe in more CO2. Want free fertilizer? Start an underground aquaponic lake and harvest the fish waste.

This is entirely feasible with modern tech, materials and even funding. The extreme in-situ resource utilization approach is how we'll colonize Mars because sustaining that many on the surface isn't feasible until we have a space elevator for sending the needed hab space.

The initial colonists might explore these tubes as their first order of business. Mapping out the branching structure and manually spraying an adhesive silicone sealing agent onto fissures to prevent air loss. Much of this exploration could be done by robotic probes.

>>3232570

>>Derp, need hard evidence of lava tubes.

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070312/full/news070312-11.html

Another possibility for maximizing livable space and minimizing cost is using subsurface lava tubes. The dense volcanic rock coating the interior would keep air loss to a minimum (easily eliminated with spray-on sealants) so creating a vast, habitable area could be as simple as sealing the entrance with an airlock and pressurizing/heating the interior.

>>2176099

>>Well the fact of the matter is space colonisation is not going to be worthwhile within our lifetimes

Actually I don't agree; it'll just rely on less glorious, methods than are typically focused on in scifi.

For instance we don't have the means to build massive domes on Mars. There's a fixed payload size for rockets, anything we send has to fit in it's cylindrical cargo bay. We're far more likely to colonize subsurface lava tubes; the formation of dense volcanic rock as the lava creates these tubes effectively seals them against air loss. We could simply blast an entrance, install an airlock, and pressurize the interior.

There's also the promise of using chemical agents to bind martian soil into concrete, making it possible to raise "monolithic domes" (hit up google) on the surface. They would be opaque, but permit far larger livable spaces than we could send in capsule form.

The third option is inflatable habitats. Bigelo Aerospace leads the charge in this field, with two already in orbit. They permit a much larger livable space to be sent by rocket than would normally be possible with rigid metal capsule designs. These would be covered in soil for radiation shielding and used as a base of operations pending the construction of concrete domes and surverying for promising lava tubes.