A City on Mars

by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith 2023

Book Review by Ray Herrmann

This book covers most every related problem with sustainable, independent settlements of Space Stations, our Moon and Mars, and touches on Asteroids, but the outer planets and moons are avoided because travel to these places would be prohibitively long at this time.

The population of any permanent settlement must be large enough to accommodate all the services we will need to live independently of Earth. This means Medical Doctors, Construction and repair crews, manufacturing tools and food production. Estimates of people needed for a sustainable independent settlement range to thousands (needed specialists) Assuming a10.000 person settlement and rockets carrying 100 people each (the biggest rockets on drawing board today) requires 100 trips!

To give us a feel for the need for support, note that the International Space Station (ISS) has a breakdown, on average, every three months that requires special equipment to be sent from Earth.

Dealing with General Health Effects:

There are many conditions discussed in this book, but I will mention only a few here. Two very serious complications are a general loss of bone density in low gravity and an ability to produce babies healthy enough to sustain a remote population.

• Experiments in the microgravity of the International Space Station (ISS) have recorded a 1% loss of bone density despite 2.5 hours of daily exercise (all get "puffy face" and "Bird Leg" as blood moves from legs to heads). Humans have not spent long enough time on the Moon (1/6 or 17% g) to know the effects of very low gravity. Mars (2/5 or 40% g) seems better, but it is too far away to study.
• Birth of Humans in low gravity has not been studied at all and there are ethical considerations to resolve before any "tests" are made. There have been some studies using rats, mice, salamanders and other species. (they generally showed increased abnormalities). Keep in mind that we evolved under Earth conditions which seem to affect our physiology and gene expression.
• Radiation is expected to be greater due the sporadic random emissions from the Sun and a lack of a protective magnetic field on our Moon or Mars means we would have to live underground. Hard radiation during transit may produce a harmful burst of secondary radiation (especially with aluminum)
• Breathable Air is lacking on both our Moon and Mars, so air becomes another essential commodity.

Settlements and Legal issues:

• While often ignored elsewhere, this book spends a lot of time considering Laws in Space. The U.S. actually has some laws already and claims that everybody can use as much of the surfaces as they like. It seems one of the main reasons to go into Space is for nations to demonstrate their power) (We always view this as "a race" and worry about our nation getting there first).
• The Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1979 is vague and doesn't have a section defining terms. Ratified by 112 nations, it was to be certified by our Congress, but, as of 2013 hasn't been.
• The closest laws we have are the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) (with 17 Nations), which doesn't allow military bases or mineral exploitation or nuclear waste dumping.

Settlements on our Moon:

• The Moon surface is coated with abrasive static dust, mostly of pulverized glass formed by a repeated melting and shattering by the unprotected meteor bombardment.
• The atmosphere-lacking moon has temperatures that swing from -200°F to 350°F and no radiation protective magnetic field, so settlements would probably be built underground, possibly in large caves.

Settlements on Mars:

• Mars has about a best-case 6 month travel time which only occurs every 2 years and Light takes at least 3 minutes (max 22 minutes) to reach earth (6 minutes both ways). So, even the first settlement must be independent for at least 2 years and have the ability to return if it fails in that time. Mars soil is unusable, as it is permeated with poisonous "Perchlorates".

The Biosphere 2 Settlement on Earth:

• One conclusion was that it takes about 3 acres to furnish 8 people with enough oxygen and food (that's about .4 acre per person and there better be no "crop failures").
• Biosphere 2 quickly separated into two 4-person factions that hated each other (perhaps a better selection would work). They also had problems with food and meat production, forcing them to eat unpalatable foods. They lost 10 to 18% of their body weight.
• Biosphere 2 lasted only about 3 years, but many of their problems could have been solved by better planning, implying that many long-term experiments need to be made before any sustainable space settlement is planned.
• Biosphere 2 lasted only about 3 years, but many of their problems could have been solved by better planning, implying that many long-term experiments need to be made before any sustainable space settlement is planned.

Food production in space or on planets would consume a lot of electricity, as sunlight is not available underground and Mars sunlight is low intensity and prone to planet-wide blocking dust storms.

For the detailed book discussions, the prospect of "Settlements in Space" seems dim for now. This is the era of Robotics and AI. I think that we should proceed slowly, focusing on establishing research stations and using space challenges to hone robots and AI.