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The Nüwa concept is not only an urban solution for a city on Mars; it
is an attempt to sketch a long-term plan for a new human society. It is a
society that uses data to make decisions and applies science to understand,
tame, and cherish the world. This is a society whose infrastructure emerges
from air, water, rock, and light, but that is shaped by our ingenuity and our
collective desire to work towards a better, more sustainable future…because
if we can restart society on Mars, Earth problems can be solved too.
Sustainability, but especially self-sustainable development is at the core
of the Nüwa concept. For being self-sustainable, a settlement on Mars
needs to be able to obtain all resources locally. For example, energy
is the underlying resource that ALL processes need. A fundamental
characteristic of energy sources is their EROI (Energy Return on
Investment): the ratio between the amount of usable energy and the
amount of energy used to that end. This concept can be applied to whole
societies too, which allows investigating minimum EROI required to
thrive [1]. For Earth, this minimum EROI is estimated at around 12-14:1
(5:1 in severely impoverished countries) [2]. The minimum EROI of
a Martian society must be higher than that on Earth (Mars is a hostile
place), and the EROI values of the more mature Martian energy options
(nuclear & solar) are around the so-called energy cliff zone, where small
changes in EROI carry large changes in energy available to society. This
has two signicant consequences: 1) it is critical to keep EROI high; 2) a
large percentage of the economic activity must be on energy production.
In addition, settlements need the ability to cope with potential future
uncertainties; at the risk of creating assets that become prematurely
PROLOGUE
obsolete [3]. Resilience can be improved by redundancy, meaning that no
function is covered by a single solution. This is our effort into designing
one of these futures, including considerations on sustainability as much
as possible. The principles of self-sustainability can be expanded into
these top-level functional requirements:
• Collect and process its own resources (primary sector)
• Sustain its own growth by manufacturing all its parts (secondary
sector)
• Maintain a safe and good living standard of the population (services)
• Provide mechanisms for individual and collective improvement
(governance)
Primary sector functions include all functions related to resource
gathering, material processing using physical and chemical processes,
and energy production including generation, storage and distribution.
Compared to Earth, secondary sector functions must follow 1) use
of local inputs only, 2) enable recyclability by design, and 3) self-
replicability of the whole infrastructure. In terms of capabilities, they
shall be able to use metals, polymers, ceramic and glassy materials,
perform product and manufacturing transformations (physical &
chemical), produce machines, make advanced electronics, construction
materials and textiles, among others. Finally, end use functions shall
include the manufacturing of components for both infrastructure and
operations of other systems.
Some service functions consist of essential human support functions
such as housing in various forms, and life support including atmosphere,
The spacecraft in which we have traveled for eight months has just landed gently on the surface. Passengers stared at each other in disbelief, still feeling numb
from the brutality of the supersonic retropropulsion during the braked descent. It seems unbelievable... We are on Mars! Many of us have arrived in recent
years. Thousands upon thousands of people traveling from our comfortable blue home to the uncertain red dream. The promise of a new world. An opportunity
to rethink everything, in order not to repeat the same mistakes. Beyond the polarized glass windows, the light of the Martian dawn spills over Tempe Mensa.
The Sun is a small golden circle, surrounded by two bright points: Venus and the Earth. A few kilometers from the spaceport, the gigantic extensions of the
greenhouses domes are outlined. Beyond, the land descends steeply down the south-facing cliff. On its vertical walls awaits Nüwa, the wonderful city that leads
the accelerated settlement of Mars. Its name recalls the goddess who protects humans. And, certainly, the city protects and provides us with everything we need.
Now, I’ll become part of Mars; I will dissolve into Nüwa, and join all those that give life to it. And we will become Nüwa, forever...
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water, food and waste management. Services shall also cover other
human factors related to the wellbeing of the citizens at individual
and community level (noise, privacy, etc.) via communal space and
mechanism to identify possible needs, dedicated professionals &
infrastructure, and the promotion and development of social welfare.
In terms of safety legislation, the city should enforce construction and
manufacture standards to protect its citizens against the reality of life
on Mars (re, pressure loss, structural, chemical, mechanical hazards),
which shall also follow stricter rules of resilience and redundancy.
Additional services include city operation functions such as distribution
(water, air, energy…), distribution of goods, human transportation, social
welfare and education facilities, support to surface operations, access
to network and computing services, communications, and logistics
management. In terms of governance, the city shall provide institutions
with executive, legislative & judiciary functions, law enforcement
mechanisms, digital administration, transparency & anti-corruption, law
codes, and diplomatic representation.
THE NÜWA CONCEPT
1 - Development Concept and Timeline
After a short initial phase relying on capital investments and supplies
from Earth, a large-scale urban development to accommodate one million
people shall be able to sustain its growth with local resources only. Our
underlying economic model is built around the concept of the City Unit
(or CU), which corresponds to one human and all the material budget
associated with it. For the city to grow one inhabitant, its infrastructure
must be able to ingest and incorporate all the resources of one CU.
Assuming that the CU production rate r is proportional to N (number of
existing CU), and that there is a constant ow ni of CU imported from
Earth; the rate of change of CUs can be written as dN/dt=N/T+ni /T,
where T=1/r is the characteristic growth timescale and is a function of
the boundary conditions. Imposing an initial population of N0=103, that
N must be 106 after 50 years (yr), and that the rate of Earth imports ni
becomes small compared to N quickly, we obtain a minimum growth rate
of 0.12 CU/yr as illustrated in Figure 3. Assuming that each CU needs
to be renovated every 20 years, we add 0.005 CU to this requirement
reaching a development threshold value of rt = 0.126 CU/yr. This means
that every eight citizens should be able to contribute one CU per year.
Qualied immigration is necessary to keep the growth rate, so providing
good live standards is essential. The focus of the nascent Martian
economic activity is likely to be around Maintenance (life support,
energy, consumables and operations, ~20%), Development (resource
collection, transformation, manufacture and construction, 50%),
Innovation & research (to develop solutions for increasing r, 10%) and
Services (20%, which is much lower than in a modern western country).
Surpluses are important because they can accelerate the growth rate,
improve the life quality of its inhabitants (incentive to entrepreneurship
and personal progress); and as a mitigation measure against contingencies
(dust storms, turmoil on Earth, and other disasters).
The city shall also engage in minor economic activities especially oriented
to services for Earth entities (private & institutions), which shall be spent
in supporting Earthbound activities, developing the Earth part of the
Earth-Mars transportation system, and importing goods of high-density
value, such as electronics and rare catalysts. For the model to work, all
the material cycles and costs must be designed following standards of
economic circularity and Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI)
considerations. That is, once a material is integrated into the system, it
shall not leave it.
2 - Development of Phases, Institutions and System of Values
Figure 3 also shows that there are three natural development phases
associated with our model. These phases set the pace on how the
governance of the cities and the Martian economy evolves over time.
• Phase 1 – Corporate (years 0 to ~10). The growth supported by
imports dedicated to high-value machines and components. This phase
can afford subpar production, and it ends when the 0.126 CU/yr growth
rate threshold is exceeded (pop ~10k, after about 10 years). All colonists
must be experienced and motivated individuals (age ~’30s). Individual
freedom and privacy are guaranteed, but citizens are formally workers
for the Mars Enterprise and remain citizens of their countries. The Mars
Enterprise is managed like a large public/private consortium with an
approximate power balance of Earth governments (40%), private interests
(30%), and the United Nations (UN, 30%) via the UNOOSA (United
Nations Ofce for Outer Space Affairs.). The UN participation formally
Figure 1. View of the inside of one type of Earthly-Green-Domes Figure 3. The Nüwa development concept
Figure 2. Close view of the cliff with the Green-Domes
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Figure 4. View of the inside of a Martian-Green-Dome
acknowledges that the resources of space belong to the humankind, and
effectively implements a similar arrangement given to countries hosting
scientic infrastructures. Operations are regulated under the Mars
Colony Act (MCA). MCA follows the spirit of both the Agreement for
the development of the International Space Station, and the (updated)
Planetary Protection Policy issued by COSPAR. The act must include
essential rights and obligations, controversial disputes system, criminal
regulation and the rst approach to licensing for natural resources, goods,
trade and import-export regulations, and the framework to regulate
private property. In all practical aspects, daily governance resembles that
of an Antarctic base. The Mars Enterprise selects colonists, covers Earth-
Mars transport expenses, provides housing and all the basic needs, but
not all welfare services are fully developed yet. As an incentive, these
settlers are given one Mars City Share (MCS) each, which will be later
used to distribute surpluses. No return trips are possible yet.
• Phase 2 – Semi-autonomous phase (years 10 to ~45). This is the
central and most crucial phase of the development. Earth nanced imports
become unnecessary (end of Earth investment), and the growth becomes
exponential. In addition to the development of the Mars cities, growth
is also bolstered by the development of the Earth-Mars transportation
system, and the corresponding reduction of immigration costs in Earth
currency. Launches from Earth are still needed, which shall be self-
nanced by motivated applicants attracted to the wonders of Martian
life, which will then be selected via lottery. The Mars Enterprise will
set quotas to ensure a balanced workforce, but that is also representative
of the Earth’s population and cultures. One Mars ticket will have an
approx. price tag of 300k USD (200k USD + 100k for Earth operations
and nancing imports), and it includes: a one-way trip, one residential
unit (~25.5 m2/person), full access to common facilities, all life support
services & food, and a binding work contract to devote between 60%
and 80% of their work time to tasks assigned by the Mars City Council
(MCC). By default, all newcomers also receive ½ MCS, and up to one
additional MSC can be purchased with Earth currency before departure.
Even if immigration slows down, the city is self-sufcient already.
The MCC is a new institution formed by democratically elected
representatives. It manages and legislates daily life on Mars, and it
is promoted and legally bound to the higher authority of the Mars
Enterprise. Most of the population growth is in the initial center (Nüwa),
but the construction of a second urban center begins nearby (Fuxi). The
construction of a polar water mining settlement (Abalos) starts once
Mars can locally manufacture nuclear reactors and fuel. Plans for two
additional urban centers near the equator (Marineris and Ascraeus)
also begin, but they shall not start until the initial city reaches a critical
population size of 200k.
A system of currency is created in this phase as well. For each surplus CU,
one million crypto-tokens informally called micros (or Micro City Unit
Credit) are issued and proportionally distributed among MSC holders.
Micros can be used to purchase part of the surplus infrastructure from the
Mars city council, providing intrinsic asset value to the coin. MSC can
be traded with micros, but no citizen can hold less than ½ MCS and no
more than 5 MCS to avoid the rise of severe inequality. The maximum
amount of total assets held by one individual should also be capped at the
equivalent of 5 CU (or 5 million micros). Only Martian companies with
participation of the Mars City Council or the Mars Enterprise (which
should hold at least 40% of the shares & decision power) can hold values
above this threshold. While basic services are still provided by the city,
additional services can now be traded in the open market. This trade
is the seed to entrepreneurship, which shall now freely develop. Since
all the transactions are digital, they can be automatically taxed, with a
practical implementation depending on the politics of the moment. The
issue of the rst micros marks the beginning of a true Martian economy.
The Mars Technical University (MTU) is created with the goals of
training the workforce based upon need, fostering innovation to increase
the development rate r, and support basic research activities which shall
be mainly driven by Earth’s vast knowledge and intellectual base. Return
trips can now be purchased to the MCC at a cost in micros. Remaining
MCS can be sold back to the Mars Enterprise at a non-negotiable rate in
Earth’s currency. An independent judiciary branch of the government,
and a law enforcement body is also established in this phase.
• Phase 3 – Towards independence (year 45+). After three decades
of exponential growth (and a total Mars population reaching 500k),
experience and innovation shall lead to a rate of unit production well
over the minimum threshold, and the core of the free-market economy
based on the micro shifts naturally to other activities. Mars is still a
frontier territory, so all citizens should still contribute to its sustainability
(20% mandatory community work to cover essential tasks). A complete
Body of Law for questions including a Constitution, shall be created.
It establishes the creation of a Mars Parliament which shall absorb the
legislative powers of the Mars City Council and the Mars Enterprise,
and act as the institutional representation of the people of Mars. The
parliament will then elect a chancellor and a ministerial cabinet to deal
with executive matters and implement diplomatic relations with Earth. At
this point, the relation with Earth requires redenition. The opportunity is
used to set up a legal framework for other similar initiatives in The Solar
Federation Treaty (SFT). A possible implementation would be the
creation of a second chamber composed of locally elected representatives
(60%), and a xed number of representatives from Earth designated
by UNOOSA (40%). The chamber shall have veto powers on new
legislation, and it shall arbitrate in case of conict between institutions
(executive, parliament, City councils). The debts and commitments with
the Mars Enterprise shall be settled, and then the Mars Enterprise shall
be dissolved.
Figure 5. Conceptual section of a Martian-Green-Dome
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3 - A place to live: Nüwa and the Cliffs of Mars
Establishing a permanent settlement of one million people on Mars
requires access to a diversity of resources. Therefore, our proposal
divides human settlement into ve cities. Nüwa is the capital, with a
population between 200,000 and 250,000 people. Its name has its roots
in the mythological goddess that is the protector of Humans, who melted
ve stones to give robust societal pillars. Nüwa provides the environment
for a prosperous Martian settlement by providing 1) Atmosphere; 2) Food
& Water; 3) Shelter; 4) Energy; and 5) A higher purpose of communal
existence. Although we are proposing ve cities, our proposal strives to
offer a highly-scalable and exible solution that can be implemented in
many locations across Mars.
The urban and architectural solution achieves:
1. Total protection from ionizing radiation.
2. Access to indirect sunlight.
3. Efcient use of resources.
4. A low-cost solution for the skin of buildings that solves the difference
in pressure between the inside and the outside air.
5. A sustainable settlement that integrates local conditions and that is
dense enough to minimize its environmental and economic impact.
Mars has hundreds of cliffs, many with inclinations higher than 45
degrees. A cliff provides a broad, structurally stable “vertical” surface,
which is a unique opportunity to create a “vertical city” inside the
cliff, providing 24/7 protection from radiation, while still having many
perforations in the cliff wall’s face to bring indirect sunlight inside. All
ve locations proposed have a direct orientation to the Sun (south-facing
cliffs if located in the northern hemisphere), so each urban sector is
maximizing access to sunlight. As these spaces are inside of the rock, the
pressure from the inside of the buildings is structurally absorbed by the
surrounding rock, reducing both cost and risk of failure of the buildings’
skin.
Building into the cliff provides proximity between the city and all of
its supporting infrastructure. Cliffs have large horizontal areas at the
Mesa (top of the cliff) and the Valley (bottom of the cliff), which in this
proposal houses the city’s supporting buildings. This solution creates an
efcient and concentrated urban development that reduces the amount of
infrastructure required to provide a fully functional city.
Although craters and other geological features may also offer some of
the advantages of cliffs, they usually do not provide the rock’s structural
stability, unidirectional orientation to the Sun, and the opportunity for a
dense urban development that cliffs provide.
3.1 The City Conguration
Nüwa and all of its sister urban developments integrate their presence in
the “Mesa”, the “Wall”, and the “Valley” of cliffs. Additionally, each city
comprises ve main urban elements that are highly interconnected, and
that can be summarized as follows:
A. Macro-Buildings: Mixed-use excavated structures inside the Wall of
the cliff. Each accommodates 4,440 people. The elevation of the Macro-
Building can be inscribed in a rectangle of 750 meters in length by 200
meters in height. Each Macro-Building is a self-contained construction
that comprises six Residential-Modules and six Work-Modules. Each of
these Modules is an intricate net of three-dimensional ten-meter diameter
tunnels that go as deep as 150 meters into the cliff.
Most of the inhabitants do not need to leave their Macro-Building to
perform their daily activities unless desired. Each Residential-Module
includes Housing-Quarters, Residential-Facilities, Urban-Orchards,
and Art-Domes. Each Work-Module includes Work-Quarters, Ofce- Figure 7. Type of Modules that comprise each Macro-Building
Figure 6. Conceptual section (top) and front elevation of the cliff (bottom)
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Facilities, and Urban-Orchards. Additionally, all modules include
Green-Domes that are excavated at the cliff wall’s face and that connect
to common areas of the modules, providing natural light and lush
gardens. Each module also includes a Snow-Dome, which dissipates
heat and cleans the air producing snow-like akes in the process. Each
module also includes horizontal Corridors and Vertical-Cores to connect
the modules vertically. There are three different types of Residential-
Modules and three kinds of Work-Modules (Fig.7). These six “building-
modules” provide standardization, reducing complexity, cost, and time
during construction. Thanks to the modular nature of the Macro-Building,
the solution is extremely exible, so no two Macro-Buildings are the
same. This exibility is also critical when adapting to the local geological
and geometrical conditions.
B. Transportation Infrastructure within Macro-Buildings: The
Macro-Buildings are linked with High-Speed Elevator Systems, similar
to those of skyscrapers on Earth. This infrastructure connects the top of
the Cliff (Mesa) with the bottom of the Cliff (Valley), and stops in the
middle at Sky-Lobbies. These intermediary lobbies provide access to the
adjacent Macro-Buildings and their vertical communication systems.
The transportation infrastructure on both sides of each Macro-Building
creates a city vertical-grid of 800-meters that can be replicated as needed
to accommodate phases for the Martian settlement. The transportation
infrastructure acts as the bones of the new “urban body,” giving structure
and exibility for growth.
C. Harvesting. Agriculture & Energy: Our proposal locates Farming,
Energy Generation, and their related Industrial Processing on the Mesa,
the substantial at area on the top of the cliff. Agricultural and energy
production facilities require direct access to sun radiation but do not need
a shield from radiation, as only maintenance personnel and robotics will
be operating there. Moreover, the inner air pressure can be substantially
less than in the human premises. As a result, it is more economical and
efcient to build on the Martian surface than to provide these activities
below ground.
As the Mesa of a cliff is often at right from the edge of the cliff, it is
benecial to locate these facilities on the Mesa. These facilities connect
with Low-Impact Industrial Buildings that process the food and energy
and distribute the outcome to the rest of the city. These Processing and
Manufacturing buildings connect with the vertical city’s infrastructure.
The Agricultural Buildings spread longitudinally in the direction of the
cliff. Next to these agroproduction facilities, Nüwa includes the solar
power generation infrastructure, which is of three types: Concentration
Tower Systems, Parabolic Generation Systems, and Photovoltaics
Generation Systems. On the Mesa, but further from the cliff, we propose
a Nuclear Plant and the High-Impact Industrial Buildings.
Figure 8. View of a Tunnel-Garden connecting to the High-Speed Elevator System
D. City Communal Areas: Humans are social beings, so providing
ample spaces for social gatherings is essential for the wellbeing of the
citizens. Additionally, in terms of the quality of the space, it is vital in
a harsh environment, like the one on Mars, to provide large green areas
where humans, plants, and animals interact similarly to how we do in
city parks on Earth. It is also critical to offer long-distance views of the
outside landscapes, especially when many daily activities will happen
underground.
To achieve this objective, Nüwa includes Pavilions, which are large
domes in the Valley of the Cliff. The proposed solution ensures protection
from radiation by having large, low-cost canopies at a distance over
these Pavilions. The material obtained from excavating the tunnels is
reused on top of these canopies. The domes’ main structure absorbs the
pressure from the inside of these Pavilions. Thanks to the mentioned
canopies, the Pavilions’ building skin can be transparent or translucent
in an economical manner. Some of these Pavilions include nature and
are called Green-Pavilions. In contrast, other types of these dome-like
structures are the Urban-Pavilions, which provide plazas for public
activities and act as the Agoras of Nüwa.
These Pavilions connect with other spaces called Galleries, which are
vast underground spaces, such as sports arenas, music halls, and light train
stations to communicate with the Space Shuttle Hub. The large volume
of air required inside of these communal areas is solved with 30-meter-
diameter underground tunnels. The Galleries and Pavilions connect
underground to the High-Speed Elevator Systems through additional
buildings that are part of these 30-meter-diameter tunneling systems,
which comprises of Arcades, that include shopping and entertainment
areas, and Tunnel-Gardens, which are underground gardens at the base
of the High-Speed Elevator Systems.
On the surface of the Valley, and connected to the underground Galleries,
the city included support buildings, such as Infrastructure-Pavilion, and
Advanced Components. Finally, an articial mountain on the Valley
created with the material extracted from the excavation, which includes
Auxiliary Energy Systems, such as fuel cells, Low-Pressure Tanks,
including ice and solid CO2, and High-Pressure Tanks for CH4 and
Liquid O2 (LOX), among others. The articial mountain also includes
Storage of Raw Material, Storage of Processed Material, and Parking
Lots, for Rovers and Trucks. This mountain reduces the impact of
temperature variation and provides a visual framework for the arrival by
land to the city.
E. Landscape: The landscape is a fundamental element in Nüwa and
its sister cities. The location itself, being able to live inside a cliff, is a
powerful emotional experience. The integration of the buildings with the
landscape transforms the city into a land-art, creating a unique identity
for its citizens.
Figure 9. Conceptual elevation of a Macro-Building comprising twelve modules
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Nüwa also includes articially-created landscapes at the Green-Domes,
located on the cliff wall’s face. These spaces are unique to Mars, but at
the same time, bring memories of nature on Earth, creating an emotional
and historical link for the citizens in these Martian communities. There
are two very distinct types of Green-Domes. The rst type is called
Earthly-Green-Domes which act as neighborhood parks. Here citizens
come to socialize and enjoy the vistas from the cliff. The second type
is called Martian-Green-Domes, which cannot be accessed due to their
lower atmospheric pressure to recreate conditions for experimental
vegetation more suited to an Earth-Mars intermediate environment. The
considerable diversity of environments at the Green-Domes ensures that
each module has its own personality, identity, and sense of community,
even though the building modules’ architecture is standardized for
scalability and efciency.
Another different type of landscape is provided at the Urban-Orchards
inside the Residential and Work Modules. These spaces are underground
and integrated with the residential and ofce quarters. Like small
community gardens, they include animals, small bodies of water, and
limited plantation to provide a physiological benet to the citizens.
The Green-Pavilions, located on the Valley, act as articially-lighted
greenhouses that include lush greenery and water, creating diverse
ecosystems. These provide space for large gatherings and also create the
ideal environment for the farmed animals to ourish. Finally, the Tunnel-
Gardens create a cave-like landscape that would be very unique to Mars.
In summary, the fourth dimension (time) plays a critical role in the
landscape solution of Nüwa, because depending on the movement of
its citizens, the architectural experience and its surroundings will be
completely different and unique.
3.2 Building Standards
Key safety issues result in unique building types and building standards
within the city. Horizontal tunnels include shafts at intervals to regulate
atmospheric pressure and provide an escape to refuge areas if needed,
so in the case of a structural failure or re, these elements act as the rst
barrier, preventing further compromise to the rest of the tunnels. Similar
to shafts, the sky lobbies are at elevation intervals at the High-Speed
Vertical Elevator stack, they provide public shared spaces and gardens,
but also act as a compartmented space between the macro-buildings. In
the unlikely event of a structural failure or re, the Sky Lobbies lead
to refuge areas designed to protect inhabitants for a prolonged duration
before rescue services arrive.
Air showers will be included at the entrance to each Macro-building to
sterilize and clean garments. Articial Intelligence (AI) algorithms will
also play a critical role in Nüwa’s building standards to help manage the
optimal conditions and minimize risk.
4 - Location (primary) and Nearby Resources
4.1 Location
Mars receives less irradiation from the Sun than the Earth. Additionally,
the slightly higher orbital eccentricity results in broader differences
between the irradiation received at the aphelion (furthest distance from
the Sun) and the perihelion (closest distance to the Sun). Nüwa, Fuxi,
Marineris and Ascraeus are all located between the equator and 30º north
latitude, avoiding really extreme weather conditions (see Figure 11:
Proposed Human Settlement on Mars. 5 Cities).
Five locations instead of one are chosen to improve resilience, long term
easy access to resources and to add mobility options to the citizens of
Mars. The chosen location for Nüwa - the rst city - is on the southern
rim of Temple Mensa (28º N, 288º, see Table 1 for an overview of the
environmental conditions), and the second urban center (Fuxi) is in the
same general region but 170 km to the North-East of Nüwa. The region
was chosen for its easy access to sources of water (clays), insolation
levels, and abundance of near vertical walls of strong rock.
The other cities in the Arcadia Quadrangle exhibit a climatology quite
similar to Nüwa, with some minor differences due to the different
latitudes. The polar location of Abalos, however, is quite different.
Located at 79º north latitude. There, the daily variations of atmospheric
temperature, pressure, and density are almost nonexistent, but these
quantities vary signicantly throughout the year. This is especially the
case with the atmospheric temperature, which remains at an almost
constant 150 K for most of the year except for summer, when there is
Sunlight on the poles, and it raises up to 200 K. Thermal designs shall
account for these differences.
4.2 Nearby Resources
Key resources (especially water) should be located near the cities,
to ensure accessibility and ease of extraction. Table 2 summarizes the
availability of water, sulfur, iron, nitrogen, phosphorus, chlorine, and
regolith, for each of the ve cities.
Table 1. Environmental conditions at Tempe Mensa
Figure 10. Aerial view of Nüwa, showing nuclear energy plant (top left), solar energy and
food production areas (top centre) and space shuttle hub (bottom)
Figure 11. Proposed Human Settlement in Mars. 5 Cities
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As documented, all the cities have access to nitrogen, phosphorus,
chlorine and regolith, which are crucial resources to develop fertilizers
and produce aggregates for construction. Water is available in Tempe
Mensa (as clays) and Marineris region’s subsoil, although the most
convenient source for mass extraction would be the one coming directly
from the polar ice around Abalos. Sulfur can be collected in Marineris
and Abalos. Minerals rich in iron oxides can also be found everywhere,
but the highest quality ores are likely to be found around Marineris. We
assume that most of the main resources necessary to maintain population
growth on Mars can be initially found around all the city locations, but
that the latest development phases shall require the use of the richer
deposits of each city.
5 - Keeping people alive: Life Support Systems & Biosystems
A Mars civilization should be independent of Earth resources and
sustainable in the long-term. Thus, a closed Life Support Systems (LSS),
where all produced bio-waste is collected and transformed in fresh
consumables for the humans is needed.
To reproduce Earth biodiversity is a complex task and cannot be easily
done in a restricted volume (in this case 187,500,000 m3 of breathable air
for a 200,000 inhabitants city). However, several living organisms will
be required to fulll the tasks needed for full recycling and to ensure a
rich and balanced diet for the city inhabitants. Figure 13 shows the main
structure of the Nüwa LSS.
Food Management
Crop cultivation will be the main food production source, providing
50% of the human diet, while processing CO2 into O2 and taking part in
the water processing system. Although crops can provide a tastier and
more varied diet than microalgae, those are more efcient in terms of
space and resource utilization, while also contributing to atmosphere
revitalization and water management. Thus, microalgae are selected for
20% of the human diet.
Typical farm animals such as pigs, chicken, or sh will also be included,
but in very small amounts. Such animals are very inefcient, but provide
a high psychological value, and can also serve as buffers in the system.
They will represent 4% of the human diet. More efcient systems such
as insects or cellular meat production will be included, representing 10%
and 16% of the human diet, respectively. Other living organisms, such as
mushrooms, should also be included.
Waste Management
Bacteria will be in charge of processing both the solid and liquid waste
products from the humans but also from the other living organisms in
the system. A combination of several bacteria species will be required
in order to process the bio-waste into useful resources. They are a key
element since they will provide the required nutrients for the system.
Water Management
Similarly, as we have on Earth, there will be a water-cycle in Nüwa.
Humans, animals, and plants will add water to the atmosphere through
respiration/perspiration/transpiration.
This water will be collected by condensation through the ventilation
system, thus providing pure water. With proper usage of water, requiring
the usage of bio-friendly products for washing and cleaning, the
wastewater produced can be used for gardening and farming. Urine from
humans and animals will be treated by bacteria. It is crucial to control
and eventually lter the substances that go into the water system, for
example, antibiotics, since those could disrupt microbial ecosystems.
The reduction of water usage at home, compared to current values in
Figure 13. Nüwa Life Support System concept
Figure 12. Aerial view of Nüwa sister’s Cities proposed locations
Table 2. Key resources availability in each region
8
western countries on Earth, is a key aspect to sustainability in Nüwa.
Mist showering or alternative cloth washing systems will ensure that the
required amount of hygiene water per person is decreased to about 7
liters per day.
Air Management
Both the microalgae and crop photosynthesis will produce the oxygen
required to replace the oxygen consumed by humans and animals, but
also the one required for other LSS subsystems, for example, some
bacteria. Besides those food-producing-plants, green areas on the human
spaces will also contribute to the reduction of the carbon dioxide levels
and production of oxygen. Carbon dioxide, excess air humidity, and heat
will be extracted from the human spaces via Snow Domes, and delivered
to the microalgae and crop cultivation areas. Additional temperature,
humidity control and ventilation will also be available for redundancy
and local ne-tuning. An inert gas (a combination of nitrogen or argon)
will also be present in the atmosphere to ensure oxygen levels are kept
within safe limits. This gas will only need to be refurbished due to
leakages on the system.
5.1 LSS Facilities
Agricultural Modules. Crops will be cultivated in the agricultural
modules, in a CO2-rich atmosphere, with a total pressure of 25 kPa. This
will not be breathable for humans, requiring a fully automated cultivation.
A hydroponic system is used to increase cultivation efciency, requiring,
for example, less water and space than soil-based systems and avoiding
the use of pesticides. A cultivation surface of 88 m2 per person is required,
which will provide food both directly for human consumption and for the
other animals in the city. Figure 14 shows the internal distribution of
the modules. Some crops will receive direct sunlight complemented with
articial light. Some crops will be stacked in vertically distributed trays,
thus requiring a dedicated LED panel. Algae, cellular meat, and bacteria
reactors are also located in these modules, either in dark or with 24/7
articial lighting, depending on the type of reactor. Those will occupy a
surface of 4.5 m2 per person.
CO2 Extraction in Habitation Modules & Snow Domes. The
atmosphere in the human habitats will have a total pressure of 75 kPa,
providing a proper oxygen partial pressure for breathing, but keeping the
oxygen volume under 30% to reduce re and explosion risk. The CO2
produced by the inhabitants will be collected through cold precipitation
of the CO2. In addition to CO2 removal, all spaces also require air
circulation and heat removal, which is achieved by expanding the
pressurized air into large, but closed volumes exposed to the surface of
the planet called Snow Domes. The expanding gas goes through a turbine
producing mechanical energy, losing heat, and its temperature further
Figure 14. Nüwa Agricultural Modules
Figure 15. Nüwa snow domes to collect the CO2
drops (Joule-Thomson effect). As a result, CO2 and air humidity freeze
into snow that falls to the bottom, and it is transported elsewhere. The
other gases (O2, N2, and Ar) do not become liquid, and they are reinjected
with a compressor to the pressurized environment (the compressor uses
energy from the turbine) (Fig.15).
Farming Areas. Ground and water lakes for animal farming, as well
as for insect farming, will be placed in the Green-Pavilions since those
require a similar atmosphere as humans to breathe. Some animals will
also be in the Earthly-Green-Domes and the Urban-Orchards. Less than
1.5 m2 of animal/aquaculture/insect farming area is required per person,
due to the low amount of food consumed directly from animals.
5.2 Required LSS Resources
In order to initiate the LSS and keep it running, besides the required
seeds and cultures, 8tn of water, 100 kg of nutrients (mainly nitrate and
phosphate) and 120 kg of CO2 per person are required. The initiation of
the system is a critical aspect, since plants and animals require some time
to grow before they can be consumed, thus time planning will be crucial.
To ll the atmosphere of the habitat and the agricultural modules 240 kg
of oxygen and 490 kg of nitrogen per person will be required. The LSS
requires 37 kW of power per person, which is mostly necessary for the
crop cultivation lighting system.
The human requirements, as well as data for the design of the
different elements in the LSS are based on available literature
[9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18].
Figure 16. Farming area in Nüwa
9
Table 3. List of the most common materials needed for manufacturing human items
6 - Resource Collection
Table 3 documents a list of the most common materials needed for manufacturing human items, and it identies their Martian counterparts. The
production energy costs for some key materials dominating the CU budget are shown in the last column.
10
Extracting minerals and digging tunnels is a central activity in creating
city units at Nüwa. With a roadheader like the Sandvik MH621, digging
relatively hard rock at a rate of 20 m3 per hour, and consuming 150 kW
of continuous power (50% of max capacity), only one machine every
400 inhabitants is needed to maintain the production rate. Digging rock
consumes about 0.03 GJ/m3. So, if we need excavating 800 m3 per CU,
we obtain that the excavation contribution of the roadheaders to the CU
energy budget is 21.6 GJ/CU.
The same logic is applied to all the other systems when deriving
required materials and energy. Surface miners, which are similar
machines optimized for surface activities, will be used to extract clays
and mine soft rock at the surface (river bed around Tempe Mensa).
Smaller units, in a swarm-like mode of operation (such as Robominers
- https://robominers.eu/) shall be imported during phase 1. The
amount of mineral needed for metal smelting (about 300 tn/CU) is
much lower than the excavation requirements for the city, so the same
roadheader machines used to excavate habitats can be temporarily
assigned to work on nearby mining sites (~100 km distance). A eet of
transportation trucks will be needed. Assuming a truck transporting 20
tons per day translates to one truck for every 48 citizens. Assuming a
20-ton truck, these contribute 0.4 tons of steel to each CU, and about
40 GJ/CU. Some additional materials for the electric power and
batteries might be needed but they remain as minor contributions.
The Martian atmosphere is mainly composed of CO2 (95%), N2, and
argon (at about 2% each) and trace gases. The carbon is essential for the
biological systems, it is needed to manufacture polymers and advanced
organic materials (e.g. disinfectants, and drugs), and small amounts of it to
be used in electrodes to smelt specialty metals such as titanium, tungsten
(preferred material for road header picks), or even Al, Mg and Si. We
estimate that 114 tons of CO2 need to be captured per CU for materials
usage. To estimate the scale of the machines needed to achieve this task,
we extrapolate from a commercial compressor on Earth (0.3 tn of steel,
and a few more materials) with a compression capability of 0.88 tn/hr./
bar leads to the conclusion that one such compressor would be needed for
every 40 citizens. The CO2 (+trace) needs to be then stored in tanks and
sent to the transformation industry. We assume 27 m3 of tanks prepared
to contain high-pressure gases and liquids per citizen. These tanks can
be built with high-performance materials (strong workhorse material
is UHMWP, a very high tensile strength polymer) shielded against the
environment by a layer of solid sintered regolith. This solution should
also be used for pipes transporting gases and liquids under pressure.
Water is the main (only) source of H, which is needed for all organic
chemistry. We estimate that around 80 tons of water are needed per
CU, where 8 tons are for life support and the rest comes from creating
polymers. In the Tempe Mensa area, the preferred water extraction
method exploits clays, which are hydrated minerals with about 5-10% of
mass in water that is released upon heating them up to about 400°C. This
results in about 1300 tn of clay that needs to be mined per CU. Water is
then extracted using residual heat from other reactions or Concentrated
Solar Power. A polar Martian city should be able to access frozen water
from the surface, thus requiring much less mineral processing. Because
of the high latitude, such a city would need nuclear power to be viable
with current technology. It is estimated that this could happen by mid-
phase 2.
There are reports of possible solid water reservoirs in the Tempe Mensa
region. Determining the most optimal way to obtain this water will be the
task of the rst initial colony of 1000 people. Given current information,
we conservatively assume the clay method as the baseline process to our
design.
Figure 17. Conceptual Section with the required excavations for Nüwa (200,000 people)
Figure 18. Excavated components of each Macro-Building
Table 4. Built-up areas and Buildings volume per city
11
7 - Chemical Transformation
Many chemical processes must be enabled to implement the self-
sustainability principle. Here we mention the most important ones that
initiate the chemical pathway providing feedstocks to the manufacturing
industry (syngas, methane, H2, and pure carbon).
• Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) produces syngas (CO + H2),
which can then be used as the precursor for more advanced materials
such as polymers and organic chemistry. Oxygen is separated at
formation, greatly simplifying the management of the output gases
[19].
• Water Electrolysis is the best-known reaction to produce molecular
hydrogen from water. A suitable implementation for Mars consists
of water in alkaline solution at 80ºC using a Ni anode that also
acts as a catalyst. The containers in the reactor must be made with
corrosion-resistant materials (e.g. glass), and on Earth, the stacks
need to be replaced only every 10-12 years of continuous operation.
Water electrolysis is also used to store energy in fuel cells [20].
• Sabatier Reaction (Methanation of CO2) is used to obtain methane
from CO2 and H2. An implementation consisting of the catalytic
methanation of CO2 seems the best option. In the most used form,
the reaction requires moderately high pressures (about 20 bars) and
is exothermic so the excess heat needs to be removed. A careful
design could reuse the heat to assist a water electrolysis reactor or
heating of clays for water extraction.
In all the reactions involving carbon oxides, there is a risk of accumulation
of pure carbon onto the catalysts (e.g. Boudouard reaction). Despite
being problematic in some cases, this process executed under controlled
conditions enables the formation of pure graphite, which shall be used in
electrolytic smelting of specialty metals.
In both Sabatier reaction and RGWS, the goal is converting H in a readily
usable form, and they both follow similar energetic efciencies (200 GJ
are needed to produce one ton of H2). While all the C and H remain xed
to organics, a large surplus of O2 is left as a by-product (130 tons of O2
per CU), while less than 0.3 tons are needed for life support. While it can
be kept in tanks, venting it might be more economical. CH4 and liquid
O2 (or LOX) are the preferred choices for rocket propellants that shall be
used by the Earth-Mars transportation system. Implementation of these
reactions requires a set of specialized chemical factories whose mass and
energy budgets are included in under manufacturing infrastructure.
The workhorse metal for Mars shall be iron and its alloys. Iron oxides
are very abundant on the Martian surface, and the smelting of the ores
into the metal can be done using thermal reduction with hydrogen. In this
process, hydrogen always remains in the cycle, so no water is consumed
in the process. Iron produced this way shall consume about 20 GJ/tn, and
steel (which requires more treatment) consumes about 56 GJ/tn. Other
metals such as titanium (also aluminium, or magnesium) can be smelted
using processes based on electrolytic carbon reduction, using graphite
cathodes. Deposits of titanium ore (ilmenite) should not be very rare, and
aluminium and magnesium oxides are present almost everywhere, but
preparing them for smelting is difcult. Small amounts of Copper and
other metals are likely to be produced as a by-product. As an estimate,
we assume that 200 GJ are needed to produce a ton of a specialty
metal, although this number could be considerably higher in some
cases. Regarding nuclear material ores, there is not much information
on possible deposits of uranium on Mars, but it is known that thorium
is relatively abundant on its surface. Thorium reactors also need salts
to operate, but the amount needed would not be signicant compared
to other ores. For resilience issues, it is highly desirable to develop the
processes to enable nuclear power options on Mars as soon as possible.
As for the gases, the CU budget for building the iron and steel factories
are included in the manufacturing infrastructure.
8 - Manufacture
Given the range of products needed to run a complex system like a
City, a broad range of manufacturing capabilities will be required with
equivalence to many Earth heavy, medium, and light industries. A key
context for developing an appropriate-scale manufacturing capability on
Mars in the long-term is that a capability does not have to be developed
within an Earth-legacy context. Many of the present-day emerging Earth
manufacturing trends towards a sustainable and renewable manufacturing
implementation are highly relevant to Mars, i.e. sustainability, circular
economies, life cycle analysis and embodied energy consideration. Other
relevant emerging trends include the concept of Industry 4.0.
A manufacturing capability on Mars is expected to exhibit the following
generic features. Materials and manufacturing choices driven by
minimizing energy usage, from a selection of raw and technical materials
- i.e. minimize embodied energy - to manufacturing energy costs. To
further minimize energy usage, to embrace the circular economy concept
and have a high degree of recycling of technical materials at product
end-of-life. Also, to embrace many of the concepts of Industry 4.0 and
smart manufacturing and thus implement exible, re-congurable,
robotic manufacturing to maximize the range of product outputs for a
minimized infrastructural and embodied energy cost. A product design
philosophy that incorporates a wide and unique set of Martian context
requirements including; using Martian relevant raw and technical
materials, different environmental requirements (e.g. reduced weight
/ gravity and hence load requirements, different external atmospheric
chemistry – very low O2 and H2O concentrations and hence materials
compatibility, lower average temperatures, etc.), designs to enable low-
energy end-of-life re-cycling, and optimized design for production with
available manufacturing techniques.
Figure 20. Interior view of one type of Earthly-Green-Domes
Figure 19. Exterior view of one type of Earthly-Green-Domes
12
Some examples and consequences of the preceding manufacturing
context follows. Wherever possible, products should try to exploit
minimally processed regolith as a manufacturing material due to low
embodied energy, e.g. sintering it at high temperatures (~1200°C) or
used with a suitable and available low embodied energy binders such
as CaSO4·½H2O (Plaster of Paris) [21], or sulphur. As discussed earlier,
compared to Earth applications, iron-based alloys should be more widely
used compared to aluminium given the much higher energy costs.
Aluminium and other specialty metals should only be used where a full
product life cycle analysis indicates this is the most energy-efcient
solution. A wide range of products will require access to organic carbon-
based materials. Such materials will be sourced ultimately from the
atmospheric carbon pool of Mars (CO2) and H2O and thermodynamically
requires a high energy input. Physical/chemical processing as well as
biotechnological (photosynthesis) approaches, are expected to be used,
although the provision of suitable photosynthetic biological growth
environments on Mars imparts a signicantly higher embodied energy
cost than the equivalent use of biology on the Earth. After the primary
capture of organic carbon, further processing steps will produce a range
of organic-based materials, including bulk polymers and functional
materials. Given the future timescale for a Mars manufacturing
capability implementation, it is expected that current research trends
in molecular electronics, efcient carbon capture and use, advanced
biotechnology, advanced nanomaterials, etc., will have been matured and
that they will offer optimized solutions for Martian use, such as organic
semiconductors, carbon nanotube-based electrical conductors, etc.
Overall, the manufacturing capability shall be driven by a “low-energy
economy” as well as waste or end-of-life products as a high-value
resource – i.e. any waste material that has a high embodied energy
content. In this rst iteration of the design, we applied some of these
principles in obvious situations (replacing use of metals), but many other
situations (use of polymers in constructive elements) would require a
much more in-depth analysis, which we leave to future studies.
For the current study, to estimate the required mass of expected
manufacturing infrastructure, a case study of an Earth automotive
manufacturing facility/ factory was chosen [22] and scaled to a factory
lifetime of 50 years to give an estimated value of 0.05 tonnes of
infrastructure required per tonne of “medium” industrial manufactured
product. For heavy industries, it was assumed the manufactured product
mass throughput per unit mass of infrastructure would be higher
(guesstimate as a factor of 5 higher) giving a value of 0.01 tonnes of
infrastructure required per tonne of “heavy” industrial product. For the
embodied energy resulting from the manufacturing process only (i.e.
not including the embodied energy resulting from the basic chemical
processing of the material) and using the same case study, a value of 27
GJ/tonne of the manufactured product resulted.
9 - Energy
Energy is an essential “nutrient” to both keep the city alive and to
enable the city’s growth. As any other resource, it needs to be collected,
transformed, and stored. Given enough power, one can eventually
reproduce any of the functions that we do on Earth. However, scaling the
energy production facilities creates a recurrence issue in the design. If we
need more power, more materials need to be extracted and manufactured
to provide the power, which leads to even higher power needs. To address
this aspect, the strategy implemented consisted of using the requirements
of the Life Support System (37kW per citizen) plus an allowance of
5kW per citizen (personal and non-production related services), and then
adding power in 10 kW increments until enough energy was produced per
year to achieve the citizen production goal of 0.125 CU/yr. Fortunately,
the process converged for the three energy systems considered to a value
of around 110 kW per capita. This number is quite high (Earth power per
capita is between 5 and 10 kW per capita in developed countries), but
it also is unavoidable given the requirements of the life support system
(which Earth gives us almost for free), and the required development
rate.
Figure 21. Nüwa. View of the cliff, including the Mesa, Wall, and Valley
13
The chosen distribution of power in a hybrid system of Photovoltaics
(PV), Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), and Nuclear is discussed in a
later section. For resilience and efciency considerations, the three
technologies should be implemented, so there is always spare power to,
at least, run the life support system. In our solution, both the CSP and
Nuclear produce enough energy by themselves to run the LSS, so if one
fails, development stops, but people stay safe and alive. Any excess of
energy should be stored chemically in (for example) H2 and O2, solid C,
and liquid fuels (e.g. methanol).
Concentrated Solar Power. Although the EROI values of CSP (between
4 and 15) for electric energy generation might not be as high as some
initial (naïve) estimates, relatively low tech is needed to make mirrors,
boilers, pipes, tanks, and pumps. Among the three more suitable energy
solutions for Mars, CSP is the only one that can be built for sure with
in-situ resources only with current technologies. A heavy industry that
is designed to operate with CSP (e.g. processes that mostly require
heat, such as glass, regolith sintering, or even metal casting) could save
large amounts of electric energy too. In this sense, our CSP solution
would consist of parabolic trough elds for electricity production, and
Concentrated Solar Power furnaces in towers for industrial processing.
We considered coupling solar concentrators to greenhouses directly.
Although it initially seemed a good idea, not enough energy could be
provided to make efcient use of the surface around the city, requiring
vast extensions of crops and mirrors. Although the trade-off needs to be
studied in more detail, for simplicity, we now assume that the energy
needed to ‘feed’ the plants comes from electricity.
Photovoltaics. We allocate a smaller fraction of power to PV because
- although this is a Mars tested technology - the in-situ construction of
solar panels may prove challenging due to the difculties in high-quality
semiconductors. Even on Earth, silicon-based photovoltaics don’t seem
to have EROIs higher than 5.
Nuclear Power. Plants are an obvious choice, especially if the high-tech
components of the reactor cores can be shipped from Earth together with
the ssile fuel (e.g. solution based on the design by the company Terrestrial
Energy, adopted by the Mars Colony studies Star City and Menegroth
in Crossman 2020), at least during the rst years (phase 1). Except for
the core, a Nuclear power plant is essentially a big mass of steel and
concrete, which can be locally sourced. It is unclear however, whether
current reactor designs shall be economically operable on Mars (aka,
they have EROI larger than 1). While there are very successful reactors
in military vessels, experimental devices in extreme environments such
as Antarctica have not been very successful. We speculate that the most
promising option would consist of developing thorium-based reactors,
which can be done on Earth in advance. Thorium reactors have been
a promising technology for some decades, and several countries with
abundant reserves of thorium (like India) keep developing promising
prototypes. Thorium reactors use molten salts in the reactor instead of
water, so it does not need to withstand the high pressures (and associated
safety measures) involved in the current uranium/plutonium-based
reactors, and its waste has shorter radioactive lifetimes. This makes the
reactor much lighter and smaller, which might lead to safer and higher
EROI reactors.
Given the uncertainties and to avoid projecting personal biases, we
conservatively assume an EROI of 5 for the three methods, keeping in
mind that the actual EROI of each technology needs to be measured in
operational conditions by the initial colony. The energy transformation
costs of materials that we use throughout the study are based on those
provided in De Castro et al. [23], with some overheads added to account
for the extra energy needed to produce some of the input products. The
materials needed for the energy distribution grid were also derived from
the aforementioned reference. Due to space constraints in this document,
we have not explained in detail solutions for the storage of energy. In
general, batteries are needed to store energy and react to quick changes in
demand. Instead of Li ion (which may be hard to nd and process), these
could be made using Zinc-air batteries, ow batteries, or fuel cells (water
electrolysis plants operated in reverse).
In terms of strategy, during phase-1 both high-performance PVs (thin
semiconductor substrate), and nuclear power solutions (only high-
tech elements of the core) shall be imported from Earth while starting
mass production of Concentrated Solar Power solutions. In phase 2,
the PV infrastructure can start growing if a solution is found for easy
manufacturing of semiconductor (organic semiconductors, or simpler
processes to produce Solar panel grade Si), while reserves for nuclear
fuel ores on Mars are surveyed.
10 - The Development of a Martian Culture and Education
Martian society must be fully supported by the concept of community.
Thus, education (formal and social) is designed to overcome the
traditional duality of me (self) and them (community). Mars is a very
hostile planet, and when you are risking your life every single day, you
learn to rely on the other people around you. Here, the African proverb
that says “if you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go
together”, dramatically changes to “if you want to stay alone, stay on
Earth; if you want to come to Mars, join us”. Ultimately, no matter how
advanced the technology or the level of AI is, it is not enough if it fails to
foster a healthy community. This is also embedded at the administration
level where all citizens are considered shareholders of the city, which in
turn provides for all the basic needs. All the people are part of the city,
and the city is everyone.
Figure 23. General view of Marineris City
Figure 22. General view of Abalos City
14
Additionally, living on Mars will force a radical change in the way
of understanding the relationships between humans and their natural
environment. On the Earth, one can forget that the subjectivity of each
individual is intimately interconnected with the environment and the
social relations. Still, on Mars this relationship is evident in everything
that is done. People there do not adapt the environment to their comfort
but are forced to adapt themselves to the planet. And this must lead to
greater respect for what Mars offers, ensuring the sustainability of the
trio me-community-environment.
In this way, Martian society will evolve and differentiate from ours,
until it becomes a mirror in which to look at itself from Earth. It is
clear that Earth’s environmental problems are results of the evolution
of society in its economic, political, social, and educational aspects.
Therefore, the circle could be closed by inheriting a social model based
on full integration in the community and on material and environmental
sustainability.
The educational model shall fully embed Mars born children in this
cultural mindset. In its practical implementation, the educational model is
organized in three stages: Early years, Intermediate years, and University.
Early Years. Mars immigrants are typically in their 30s, so many of them
may want to start families. Human procreation is also an essential function
required for the long-term survival of Nüwa. Consequently, children’s
care is addressed by the community. Early childhood education consists
of social services for newborn to preschool age (i.e., up to 5 years old).
Early education programs will be founded by specialized methods such
as Montessori, Waldorf or Kirchner, which are committed to developing
children physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Universal
access to child care satises a dual function: it allows parents to keep
engaged with their tasks, and it nurtures the spirit of shared communal
responsibility (collective education). In all the educational stages, there
will be a consistent and persistent commitment to co-education programs
to abolish gender and diversity bias present on Earth [24,25].
Intermediate Years. Adult personalities are forged during this period of
life. The educational program for children between 5 and 16 years old,
will follow the directives of the Incheon Declaration, which has been
designed to satisfy the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
(or the future version of it). In this sense, education must be accessible
for all, must have a global scope, and must train the future adults into
operating in collaborative and inclusive environments. The curricula
should be generalist in the sense of learning skills, and training in the
usage & triage of information rather than mere acquisition of knowledge.
All students need to learn how to both play leadership roles and how to
become productive team members, as they will have to play both roles
during their adult lives. Strong emphasis shall also be given in teaching
how to learn new skills from available resources (books, digital world,
mentors), and how to integrate different skill sets in teams to complete
tasks. This kind of education is an important asset to both the city and
the pupils, given that the tasks and work distribution may be changing
rapidly over time. As in the early ages, the teaching materials & practices
must be designed to abolish implicit gender/sexual orientation/cultural
biases and toxic cultural heritages that go against the free development
of the self. Embracing teamwork practices shall also be oriented towards
promoting the sense of shared communal responsibility towards the
others, and the common project that is Nüwa.
University (Mars Technical Universities, MTU). Due to the economic
focus of the city towards development, the MTU (which would also
include studies typically associated to professional and technical schools)
shall be focused on preparing specialists to the most critical technical
and management tasks (e.g. it does not train miners, it trains mining
engineers, mechanical engineers and software developers to make and
operate machines). An important aspect that will also be nurtured will
be the Arts and a self-expression education. Arts will be a critical part
of Society on Mars, in order to develop its own cultural identity and
common sense of purpose. Each Macro-Building includes Art-Domes
to encourage and inspire the citizens of Nüwa and its sister cities. The
academic staff shall be composed by a full time teaching academics that
shall manage and organize the courses (30%), a small fraction of pure
academics tasked with the development of innovation programs (20%),
and the rest shall be associated members with a high professional prole
that are offered to spend 50% of their usual workload to teaching duties.
Basic research is not a core activity at the MTU. In this aspect, the role of
the MTU is to provide access to Martian unique environments to scientists
from abroad, and formulate engineering and scientic challenges so they
can be addressed by the much larger intellectual resources of Earth.
A program of visiting scientists (for minimal time periods of 6 years)
from other locations of the solar system shall be implemented with co-
funding initiatives. All Mars citizens shall be able to apply for studies
at the MTU at any time (no age restriction). Apart from a multi-year
degree, the MTU shall prepare short term intensive programs (similar
to summer universities on Earth, but all year round) to foster interaction
among citizens of different sectors and encourage innovation. MTU
will also provide administrative support to entrepreneurs willing to start
business cases on Mars, which require considering technical aspects
more complex than those on Earth.
11 - Services & Recreation
11.1 Social Welfare Infrastructure
Access to medical care is a fundamental right on Mars. As such, the Figure 24. Interior view of the corridors at the Residential-Quarters
Figure 25. Interior view of an Art Dome
15
health facilities are maintained by the city, and all citizens have free,
equal access to them. A Personal Monitoring Device will also send
periodic data on basic vital information of each citizen to a centralized
computer, so urgent help can be sent when certain conditions are met
(pre-specied by the user, and/or automatically by the system as a
function of the location).
Hospitals and Residences. Based on the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) data from a total of 42
countries worldwide, the number of beds per 1000 inhabitants ranges
from 0.6 (India) to 12.5 (Japan). The mean of the number of beds for
those 42 countries is 4.4 per 1000 inhabitants. It is estimated that for a
200K inhabitant city a ~880 number of beds in hospitals are required.
The number of beds available for people requiring long-term care in
institutions (other than hospitals), are 752.69 per 100K inhabitants in
EU member states based on data collected in 2014 (European Health
Organization Gateway). Thus, for a 200k city, the total number of beds
required in residences is ~1500. Hospitals and residences are situated at
the Galleries and Urban-Pavilions at the Valley.
Drugs and Biochemicals. Production of medicine and drugs is needed
to preserve the citizens in good health. To account for them in the CU
budgets, we estimate the amount required per person using Earth data.
Concerning analgesics, these can be classied into three types of groups:
non-opioids, and mild and strong opioids (World Health Organization’s,
WHO) and their consumption is highly variable on Earth. In Mars, it is
estimated that about ~40 DDD (Dened Daily Doses per 1000 inhabitants
per day) such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin will be consumed [26].
Opioids will also be produced, and it is estimated that the consumption
will range between 80-250 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per
capita [27].
The number of antibiotics consumed will range between 4 to 64 DDD
(dened daily doses) per 1000 inhabitants per day, and the absolute
overall weight will vary from 1 tonne to 2225 tons (tn) per year [28].
For CU accountancy reasons, we estimated the amount of medicines
consumed over 20 years per average person. Assuming this, we added
0.5 tn of advanced medicine at an energy cost of 500 GJ/tn, and 1.5 tons
of basic medicine at 100 GJ/tn for basic medicines to each CU. Methanol,
ethanol, and hydrogen peroxide in solution with water shall be used as
the workhorse disinfectants in homes, public spaces and health care
facilities. A material budget account for all the disinfectants required by a
hospital bed is added to the CU budget at 0.8 tons of simple polymers and
organics. Both methanol and ethanol can be derived from bio-products
(e.g. sugar cane) or from chemical processes. Hydrogen peroxide can
be chemically produced easily from H2 and O2 using relatively simple
catalytic processes.
Early Years Schools. The number of enrolled children in early childhood
education programs in Europe is about half of those enrolled in primary
schools (Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe, ECECE).
Each urban center of 200k inhabitants shall offer around 3000 nursery
spots spread over ~40 nursery centers. Nurseries will be situated in well
Facilities inside the Macro-Buildings that are directly connected to
Earthly-Green-Domes.
Schools and Universities. According to 2017-2018 data, in the US,
with a population of 328.2 million people, there were a total of 130,930
schools, 87.498 were elementary schools, and 26,727 secondary schools
(National Center for Education Statistics, NCES). In a city of 200K, ~80
schools for both elementary and secondary will be built. Currently, there
are a total of 3,228, 2,596, and 2,725 universities in the USA, China,
and Europe, respectively (NCES) in a total population between the
three regions of 2,462.6 million people. Thus, for a Mars city of 200K
inhabitants, the equivalent of 0.35 large universities (10 000 x 0.35 =
3500 student placements) are needed. Schools are integrated inside the
Work-Quarters, inside the Macro-Buildings, and share the Facilities
and Urban-Orchards with the ofces and research hubs located in the
modules. Each Urban center includes three University campuses that are
located at the Galleries and Urban-Pavilions in the Valley.
Recreation Facilities. engage citizens in physical activities such as
sports, games and tness, social activities, camping, and arts & crafts
activities. As described in the urban design, Nüwa has many volumes
dedicated to leisure. In New York City there are a total of 1,700 parks
for 18 million citizens, corresponding to 18 large recreational parks for
a population of 200k. These recreational facilities are distributed at the
Mesa inside the Galleries, Arcades, Tunnel-Parks, Green-Pavilions, and
Urban-Pavilions. Additional smaller social areas are provided at the
Earthly-Green-Domes, in the Macro-Buildings, inside the cliff (Wall).
11.2 Ground Transport
Intracity. The transportation in the vertical direction of the Wall (inside
the cliff) is carried out with elevators in the sky-lobbies and shafts. At
the base and top of the Wall, a system of light trains and buses is used to
move in the longitudinal direction of the cliff. The underground spaces
at the base of the Wall, adjacent to the Tunnel-Parks and the Arcades,
include the train stations that connect with the Space Shuttle Hub that, for
the case of Nüwa, is located inside the big crater in contact to the west
side of the Mesa.
All transportation inside the city happens within pressurized spaces
and consists of electrically powered vehicles. To estimate the energy
and mass budget of the eet of vehicles, we assume one electric bus/
wagon for every 400 inhabitants (a bit higher than Earth average). Out
Figure 27. Conceptual diagram of the tunnels at the Mesa, Cliff and Valley
Figure 26. Interior view of a Green-Pavilion
16
of dome operations shall be executed via pressurized rovers, which shall
all be equipped with enough pressure suits and backup air to sustain their
inhabitants for at least 10 hours, even in case of full vehicle failure. Each
city also includes two large helicoidal ramps that connect the Mesa and
Valley vertically and that are mainly used for vehicular logistics and
during the construction/excavation of the “vertical city” inside the cliff.
Intercity Transport. City to city transport is done with trains of buses/
wagons on paved roads. The roads shall be built using excess gravel and
sintered regolith (pavement layer) as the main materials. The travel speed
shall be of the order of 100 km/h. These buses are all-electric, they are
charged at the origin stations before departure, but they also have PV on
the roof for emergency backup power. All human transportation shall be
done in day time. All wagons have an extra cover of polymer to increase
protection against radiation coming from above, but shall otherwise have
windows to enjoy the views.
Each urban center will have a central receiving station for all intercity
transport, located at the Galleries that connect with the articial
mountain. As for the intercity transport, we assume one of such wagons
for every 400 inhabitants should be enough to cover most transportation
demands. More advanced methods of transportation (maglev trains) may
eventually develop between cities, but not during the core development
phase of the Martian infrastructure.
11.3 Personal Monitoring and Digital Administration
All citizens must always wear a Personal Monitoring Device. This has
the function of:
• Activating the correct safety protocols in case of emergency
• Monitor the health of the citizens and detect patterns of possible city
wide-spread issues
• Localizing key citizen at any time (cases of extreme emergency)
The device may be physically embedded in the body or can be a wearable
piece (watch, bracelet, necklace, earring), and relies on the radio Wi-Fi
network. Very clear legislation shall exist in terms of how the personal
information gathered by the Personal Monitoring Device can be used.
Anonymization of the information and legislation shall be followed.
In addition to this, all citizens will be given a Portable City Terminal,
which shall feature all the common functions of a modern cell phone
device. Citizens keener on advanced technology can spend their micros
on more sophisticated hardware. The Portable City Terminal shall be
carried along to all public places, as it doubles as an ID system and as
a communication tool. All city administrative matters will be managed
through the PCT or using a computer. To account for all these gadgets
and computing needs of each citizen, a mass of 5 kg of electronics is
assumed per CU.
11.4 Communications
Communication services shall ensure a constant link between different
parts of the city, between different cities on Mars and between Mars and
the Earth.
Intracity Communications. Broadband data will be disseminated via a
careful design of the articial lighting inside the city following the Li-Fi
concept. For safety and need of redundancy, LiFi shall be complemented
by lower bandwidth radio-link Wi-Fi in all human dwelled spaces.
Intercity Communications. Initially, radio links shall be used between
cities, with repeaters installed every few tens of kilometers in high-
terrain locations. Eventually, ber optic lines would complement the
system, providing high bandwidth communications, especially between
nearby cities.
They are not immediately implemented because, while they have the
advantage of being low power and low latency, their manufacture on
Mars might require signicant amounts of energy-intensive materials
(polymers, specialty glasses and semiconductors). For longer distances
(connections with Abalos city near the pole), direct satellite links are
considered more efcient. This system is mainly supported by the
Areostationary network of satellites.
Mars-Earth Communications. All cities on Mars are always linked
with the antennas of the Earth’s Deep Space Network (DSN). To do this,
two systems are used:
1. Direct-to-Earth comms: The cities on Mars communicate directly with
the DSN through Laser Band. This ensures a very reliable system, but
only when the city and the Earth are in view. The uplink and downlink
velocities can achieve 680 kbps and 44 Mbps, respectively.
2.Relay comms: The Areostationary network satellites are used as a signal
relay, ensuring constant link with the DSN. In this case, a combination
of UHF and X-band antennas are used to obtain uplink and downlink
velocities of around 44 Mbps per satellite.
11.5 Farewell Facilities
Death is a necessary part of life on Mars. For efciency and to avoid
bio contaminating the Martian environment, corpses will be processed
(composted, or incinerated in a dedicated Solar Concentrator Tower), and
their biomass incorporated back into the system (small samples can be
kept by close-ones). Some of the Urban-Orchards and Earthly-Green-
Domes will be dedicated as a remembrance space for the departed ones.
In terms of inheritance, part of the in micro and MSC will be passed to
children, spouse or designated heir, and the rest will be returned to the
city.
Figure 29. Interior view of the Galleries connecting with the Space Shuttle Hub
Figure 28. Interior view of the Train Transportation system inside Nüwa
17
12 - The Earth-Mars Transportation System
A robust and scalable Earth-Mars transportation system is vital to ensure
the success and sustainability of Nüwa and the other cities on the red
planet. Once the rst city of 1,000 inhabitants has settled, the landing
of new people from Earth will grow exponentially. In addition, an
economy based on Mars-Earth relations and the exploitation of resources
throughout the Solar System will begin to emerge.
Taking all this into account, the Earth-Mars transportation system main
objectives are: 1) Allow the ow of passengers from Earth to Mars at
the right pace to meet the exponential demand of inhabitants (1,000 to
800,000 people from 2050 to 2100); 2) Allow the ow of passengers
from Mars to Earth; 3) Allow the ow of goods between Mars and Earth
(and vice versa), key to economic relations between the two planets; 4)
Operates as a transport hub between the inner and outer Solar System.
All these objectives shall be accomplished taking into account the
following top-level requirements for the Earth-Mars transportation
system: 1) Be manufactured mostly on Mars with ISRU technologies; 2)
Be managed and operated from Mars; 3) Work efciently, requiring the
least amount of fuel and materials possible; 4) Be scalable and adaptable
to the needs imposed by the future space economy.
The optimized solution is based on two different systems working
together: a regular shuttle and a station periodically orbiting between the
Earth and Mars. This combination is able to adapt the overall system
to the demanding amount of people that need to be transported to Mars
between 2090 and 2100, taking advantage of shared components and
synergies between them.
12.1 Shuttle
A shuttle system is developed to transport people and cargo aboard a
reusable spacecraft (S/C) able to be launched and land both on Mars and
the Earth (see Shuttle architecture in Figure 30). The S/C is launched and
placed into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) using a reusable booster. Once in
LEO, it is relled with liquid O2 (LOX) and methane (CH4). Then, a Trans
Mars Injection makes the S/C escape the Earth’s gravitational inuence,
entering into an elliptical orbit around the Sun, directed towards Mars.
After an average time of 250 days of coasting, the S/C lands safely on the
red planet, using a heat shield and supersonic retropropulsion.
In Mars, ISRU technologies allow the extraction of O2 and CH4 from
atmospheric CO2 and water, using the Sabatier Process (see Section 7 -
Chemical Transformation). Now, departing from the red planet is easier,
thanks to its lower gravity. Therefore, the shuttle S/C does not need a
booster and can go all the way from the Mars surface to the Earth surface
by itself (direct ascent architecture).
The shuttles will depart from the Earth and Mars when the relative
position of both planets allow for minimum fuel requirements. These
launch windows open approximately every 26 months and last between
one and three months. For example, a window to travel from the Earth to
Mars opens the 15th of September 2054 and closes after 28 days, the 13th
of October 2054. The next window opens the 6th of September 2056 and
closes after 65 days, the 10th of November 2056, and so on.
Earth and Mars launch windows are crucial to optimize the amount of
S/C and boosters to assure the right ow of people and cargo between
the two planets. The study of the interplanetary trajectories allows
obtaining a set of analytical results to analyze the mission feasibility in
terms of propulsive requirements. The Earth-Mars transportation system
optimization nally results in a total of 151 units of Shuttle_1 (200 PAX)
and 200 units of Shuttle_2 (500 PAX) (see Figure 30), over the 50-year
period.
12.2 Earth-Mars Station
To complement the Shuttle service, an Earth-Mars Station (EMS)
will start operating from the year 2075, to be used as a large-capacity
transport system. The EMS is placed in a Cycler Orbit that periodically
moves between the Earth and Mars [29].
By the year 2100, the EMS must be able to carry up to 135,000 people
at its higher occupancy rate. The station can be a big S/C or an asteroid
placed at the Cycler Orbit.
Schematics of the EMS architecture can be seen in Figure 31. The station
orbits between the Earth and Mars, performing a y-by around each
Figure 30. Shuttle system architecture. Main material masses are estimated using Wertz et
al. (1992) [30]. S/C and booster images are based on Starship and Superheavy, from SpaceX
Figure 31. EMS system architecture. Main material masses are estimated using Wertz et al.
(1992) [30]. S/C and booster images are based on Starship and Superheavy, from SpaceX
18
planet every time it reaches them. This is very convenient since almost
no fuel is needed to keep such a station on its path. However, passengers
and cargo need to be moved from the surface of the planets to the station
and back. For this, dedicated S/C and boosters are used. These S/C and
boosters are new versions of Shuttle_2, adapted with fewer thrusters,
smaller fuel tanks, and a less demanding Life Support System. Also,
more than one S/C shall be able to dock with the station simultaneously,
to facilitate the boarding of all passengers during the 70 – 100 minutes
y-by. All in all, a total of 467 S/C and boosters are needed to feed the
station between 2075 and 2100.
12.3 Materials
Figures 30 and 31 include the total mass of the main materials needed for
the Shuttle system and EMS, respectively. Taking into account that the
S/C and boosters operating all their lifetime between the Earth surface
and LEO are built on the Earth, the total materials (kg) needed to fabricate
all the elements of the transportation system on Mars are: stainless steel
1.2·108; carbon ber composite 3.1·108; LOX 2.2·109; methane 6.1·108.
13 - Distribution of Services
Since the city’s tunnel system provides access and reaches to all parts of
the city, it makes it sensible to also integrate its services within them. As
a default, and as an overarching framework within the entire city, a Level
1 channel for distribution of services is proposed. Here it is assumed
that the distributor plays a signicant role as it manages the supply and
delivery of building services, in the same way it manages the logistical
activities related to the distribution of goods and passengers within the
transportation network.
While this creates a scenario where the entire infrastructure is wholly
managed by a single stakeholder, it reduces system-wide operational
risk. This provides an opportunity for further layering of Level 2 and 3
channels within the overall ecosystem.
14 - The Emergence of the City
A pictorial representation of the budget per CU is shown in Figure
33. Materials have been consolidated into categories to aid in the
visualization. As a reminder, a CU (or City Unit) is the material, energy
and resource budget required to add one human to the city. The budget
has been prepared consolidating all the information from all the solutions
developed in the previous sections in a rather extensive spreadsheet.
Some iterations were needed to converge the solution due to recurrent
dependencies mostly caused by the energy production infrastructure. As
seen in Fig. 33, the major contributors to the budgets are the construction
of human spaces, greenhouses, and the energy and manufacturing
infrastructures. The bottom left of the gure also shows the bulk
amount of minerals and gases that need to be ingested to the system.
The manufacturing energy block corresponds to the energy required to
manipulate products and transform them in user-ready goods (see Section
8- Manufacture). Important observations to be made:
Figure 33. Left Panel. Mass, energy, power and raw material budgets per City Unit (CU). Right Panel. Main physical assets per citizen
Figure 32. Level 1 channel distribution shown as the overarching framework within the entire city.
Signicant role of Stakeholder 1 shown as the major distributor and further layering of level 2 and 3
channels within the overall ecosystem
19
• Gravels are needed in large amounts, but they are cheap in terms of
energy (almost for free from the excavation of tunnels, and clay mining)
• Digging activities such as tunneling and surface mining are not as
energy intensive as they may initially seem. Deploying machines with
digging capabilities shall be a priority in the early development phases.
• We based our material estimates on Earth’s constructive style. This
results in the use of signicant quantities of polymers (aka plastics).
Most of the polymers do not go to domes, but into classic construction
elements. Reduction in usage of polymers (and also steel) would
propagate strongly and reduce the CU costs. For example, reducing the
amount of polymers would also remove most of the water budget, as all
the hydrogen atoms incorporated in organic molecules originate from it.
One may think that the CU budget is too large, but this shall be compared
to the equivalent one on Earth. In developed countries, the number of
minerals mined per person/yr is about 10 tn. If we multiply this by 70
years of life, this leads to 700 tons of mineral, which is very consistent
with our CU budget estimate, especially if we consider that most of the
Martian digging comes from clays to produce water (which comes for
free on Earth).
In summary, despite the average power requirement is high, the result
indicates that with clever implementation of current technology and
some more renements in the design, the implementation of the Nüwa
self-sustained growth concept would be viable on Mars.
15 - Operating the City, Articial Intelligence and the Role of
Innovation
Considering that Nüwa needs 117 kW per inhabitant compared to the
11 kW used by humans on Earth developed countries, a Mars citizen
would have about ten times higher workloads than Earth ones. This
shall be mitigated by standardization, automation, and the use Articial
intelligence (AI). We are still very Earth bound to the methods that we
can think about. Practical experience and locally-driven innovation shall
both improve productivity and produce surpluses fast.
Currently AI designers have the challenging task of getting AI agents
to work effectively in environments not originally built with them in
mind. However, if this is taken into account at design level, then the
sophistication of their reasoning can be greatly reduced, e.g. limiting
locomotion to tracks, having to distinguish only a few types of clearly
marked object types, not requiring ability to circumnavigate unexpected
objects (possibly humans). Consider the ensemble of robotic arms and
conveyor belts used in fabrication factories - these don’t require AI. AI
shall also be used in services and digital administration tasks if possible.
However, any automated decision by AI that affects the citizens will be
auditable and the proper policy making will be in place to ensure that AI
design is unbiased with regards to the values of Nüwa, such as equality
among the members of the Settlement.
Figure 35. Interior view of a facility in a Macro-Building overviewing a Martian-Green-Dome
CONCLUDING REMARKS
This design proposal was initiated and promoted by SONet (the
Sustainable Off-world Network), which is a community of mainly
European professionals interested in multidisciplinary approaches
to sustainable exploration of space. For a while, we have been asking
ourselves the question “what would it take for an off-world infrastructure
to be able to sustain its own growth”?
The Mars Society competition gave us the chance to focus on a well
dened design exercise. After several brainstorming sessions, we
established a simple development model, that pointed to a solution
based on exponential growth and three phases. We then summarized the
functions of the city, and proposed technical and urban design solutions
that should address all of them. More than twenty ve people participated
in the discussion sessions and contributed to a rst 100+ pages document,
which has been distilled in this report. Besides infrastructure, the city
also needs citizens to grow. The socio-cultural aspects of the design
naturally came into play when building a compelling case to attract
the future martians.
We made no effort in assessing the cost of the development in Earth
currency, except for the cost to transport people. This was intentional. Of
course, this leaves open the small issue of funding for the initial colony.
After making various assessments, we concluded that - as of today - there
is no clear Earthbound business case for a colony on Mars that does
not rely on wildly uncertain assumptions and correspondingly high risk.
Anyone would agree that economic returns are bound to happen when
an economic activity enters exponential growth. If our self-sustainable
development concept could be demonstrated (even on Earth), this
would provide incentive for governments and the private sector alike.
After analysis, design changes, and interactions, we conclude that, in
principle, the Nüwa concept could become a reality; but additional
design work is still needed.
Building a sustainable and socially cohesive society has strong synergies
with solutions to Earth’s problems, so solutions to both challenges can be
worked out together. It is clear to all of us that a highly multidisciplinary
effort would be needed to move this initial sketch into something
more tangible. In future iterations, we hope to engage a more diverse
community and this design concept as a starting point.
In the meantime, we hope to meet again soon...
“...I’ll become part of Mars; I will dissolve into Nüwa, and join all those
that give life to it. And we will become Nüwa, forever…”
Figure 34. Aerial view of the access to Nüwa via the valley oor
20
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Many ideas developed were inspired by solutions presented in Mars Colonies, Plans for
Settling the Red Planet, by Dr. Frank Crossman/The Mars Society 2020; especially from Ae-
neas Complex (by J. Little), “Team spaceship” Engineering Requirements (by R. Mahoney,
A. Bryant, M. Hayward, T. Mew, T. Green & J. Simich), Star City, Mars (by G. Lordos & A.
Lordos); and Project Menegroth by W. Stine.
Team
AUTHORS:
Project Coordination, Economic model & High-level concepts: Guillem
Anglada-Escudé, Ph.D.; RyC fellow in Astrophysics; Institut for Space Science/
CSIC & Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (EU)
Co-coordination. Space, Earth-Mars transportation & Socio-economics:
Miquel Sureda; Space Science and Technology Research Group, Universitat
Politècnica de Catalunya & Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (EU)
Life Support, Biosystems & Human factors: Gisela Detrell, Ph.D; Institute for
Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart (EU)
Design. Architecture & Urbanism:
Design Strategy & Coordination: ABIBOO Studio (USA)
Preliminary Analysis & Urban Conguration: Alfredo Muñoz (USA); Owen
Hughes Pearce (UK)
Detailed Architecture & Urban Design: Alfredo Muñoz (USA); Gonzalo
Rojas (Argentina); Engeland Apostol (UK); Sebastián Rodríguez (Argentina);
Verónica Florido (UK)
Identity & Graphic Design: Verónica Florido (UK); Engeland Apostol (UK)
Mars Materials & Location: Ignasi Casanova, Ph.D.; Prof. Civil and
Environmental Engineering; Institute of Energy Technologies (INTE),
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (EU)
Manufacturing, Advanced Biosystems & Materials: David Cullen; Prof. of
Astrobiology and Space Biotechnology; Space Group, University of Craneld
(UK)
Energy & Sustainability: Miquel Banchs i Piqué; School of Civil Engineering
& Surveying, University of Portsmouth(UK)
Mining & Excavation systems: Philipp Hartlieb; Prof. in Excavation
Engineering, Montan Universitaet Leoben(EU)
Social Services & Life Support Systems: Laia Ribas, Ph.D; RyC fellow in
Biology, Institut de Ciències del Mar/CSIC, (EU)
Mars Climate modeling & Environment: David de la Torre; Dept. de Física,
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (EU)
CONTRIBUTORS:
Jordi Miralda Escudé (ICREA Prof. in Astrophysics - Ground Transport, UB,
EU); Rafael Harillo Gomez-Pastrana (Lawyer, - Political Organization & Space
law, EU); Lluis Soler (Ph.D. in Chemistry - Chemical processes, UPC, EU);
Paula Betriu (Topographical analysis, - UPC, EU); Uygar Atalay (Location,
temperature & Radiation analysis, UPC, EU); Pau Cardona (Earth-Mars
Transportation, UPC, EU); Oscar Macia (Earth-Mars Transportation, UPC, EU);
Eric Fimbinger (Resource Extraction & Conveyance, Montanuniversität Leoben,
EU); Stephanie Hensley (Art Strategy in Mars, USA); Carlos Sierra (Electronic
Engineering, ICE/CSIC, EU); Elena Montero (Psychologist, EU); Robert Myhill
(Mars science – U. Bristol, UK); Rory Beard (Articial Intelligence, UK)
June 2020
