Life on Mars

Life on

Life on Mars

Your brief is Mars: what would you design, construct or engineer for a new smart city in the Mars Valley, home to one million humans? Tanya Weaver reports on a new global competition that is asking participants to take their imaginations to infinity and beyond.

It is 2117 and you’re standing on the side of a hill, looking down onto your city and its one million residents. The sun is setting and Earth is just a distant star. You’re on Mars, colonised by humans just a few decades ago.

As you stand there, are you breathing normally or inside a mask? Are you wearing a spacesuit or is your skin exposed? Is your home above or below ground? How do you move from place to place? What food do you eat and how do you grow it? What do you do for fun?

These are all tantalising questions –and they’re questions that the Washington-based National Space Society (NSS) is keen to see answered. The organisation’s vision, after all, is to see people and working in thriving communities beyond Earth. “I grew up under the stars in the Canadian prairies and developed a passion for space,” says director Chantelle Baier.

“The prospect of human exploration really excites me. We get to start thinking about what our houses will look like in space, what we’ll be wearing and what technologies will make living in space more comfortable.”

Race to the Red Planet It is no longer a question of whether humans will get to Mars, but how soon. The race to the Red Planet has begun and several organisations are competing to win.

There is, of course, NASA, with its plan for humans to set foot on Martian soil by the end of 2030s.

Then there is California-based SpaceX, which also plans to boldly go where no human has gone before. Its founder, enigmatic entrepreneur Elon Musk, has revealed that SpaceX will Marth Vallis – Mars Valley others is that technologies begin manned flights to Mars – has been identified by created for space can often by 2026 in a mammoth NASA as a potential landing site. However, as this image be used here on Earth. In spacecraft that can take 100 depicts, it will be a difficult fact, NASA has a whole secpeople on each trip. terrain to navigate tion of its website dedicated

Dutch company Mars One, (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ Univ. of Arizona) to technology transfer promeanwhile, proposes to send jects and spin-off compa24 people to Mars by 2035. The number is nies based on that proposition. precise: potential participants are being For instance, Houston-based architect carefully vetted, since they will be required Garrett Finney was tasked by NASA to to dedicate their lives to the mission. It’s a create space-saving designs for a ‘habitaone-way trip and the intention is for them tion module’. Inspired by this work, he to become Mars’ first permanent residents. then went on to set up Cricket (now Long-term prospects trailer company renowned for its compact, Getting to Mars is one thing. Surviving on yet comfortable, ergonomic products. the planet is another thing entirely. From Then there are water filtration systems, data so far received from Mars rovers, it’s structural analysis software in the form of not exactly a hospitable or desirable envi- Nastran, and even a CO2 recovery technolronment in which to live, especially if ogy system created for Mars that is being you’re one of the Mars One crew who will used by small-scale brewers to put the live out the rest of your days there. bubbles into craft beer.

The planet’s atmosphere contains

known as TAXA Outdoors), a camper almost no oxygen. It is subject to intense Fuelling the imagination radiation. Its seasons are extreme, with The prospect of designing for another maximum temperatures in winter reach- planet, no matter how inhospitable, helps ing -126C and in summer reaching a fuel the imagination. It’s inspiring – not balmy 20C (the average temperature is just for adults, but for children too. -63C unlike earth’s 14C). As Mars One CEO Bas Lansdorp

Mars is prone to massive dust storms recently said at the Institution of and has 62.5% less gravity than Earth. Engineering and Technology’s (IET) On the positive side, it’s good for weight Festival of Engineering event in London, loss – if you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, “I think landing on Mars will change our you’d only weigh 38 pound on Mars. planet. It will inspire children to want to

Bearing all this in mind, why design for be engineers and scientists and astroMars? Why dedicate time and resources nauts again, instead of pop stars.” to creating technology for an inhospitable But from Chantelle Baier’s point of view, planet, when we have enough going on in the human-centric aspect of designing for our own planet, which could soon Mars and space is paramount. Just because become pretty inhospitable itself, if we we’re leaving home behind, doesn’t mean aren’t careful? that our destination shouldn’t be comforta-

The reasoning offered by NASA and ble and aesthetically pleasing.

“The emphasis on designing for space is architects, will be relevant to all HP’s cus- can aid in the growth of humans on Mars. predominantly focused on engineering tomers, including students. “The key Xavier Albizu of Spain received the and functionality. Right now, the thing is that they are using the tools they transportation award for his ‘MARS Multi International Space Station looks like a tin use daily, such as Revit, Maya, Fusion 360 Utility Vehicle’ and Jorge Moreno Fierro of can – it doesn’t look warm and homely,” and 3d Max, and so for that reason, we Columbia received the design award for says Baier, whose background, interest- partnered with Autodesk,” says Young. his adaptive parametric construction ingly, lies in the diverse fields of geology The competition consists of three phas- machine called ‘Bio System’. and fashion design. es: concept (now complete); 3D modelling;

“It’s about the importance of beauty and and rendering. Each phase doesn’t lead on Second phase launched design that surrounds us on Earth and from the previous one – it’s not a question At Autodesk University this month, the how we can implement this when plan- of asking entrants to follow a design second, 3D modelling phase of the compening our Mars colonisation,” she adds. through from concept to rendering. tition was launched. The deadline for

Baier is bringing these views to a new Instead, each phase is independent, with entries is 25 February 2018. competition – HP Mars Home Planet – for its own deadline and prizes. For this phase, participants need to crewhich she sits on the advisory panel. “The idea with the concept phase was to ate 3D models of their designs in categoOrganised by HP and Nvidia, this year- create a low barrier for entry: anyone can ries including civil engineering, architeclong competition, launched in August get involved as they don’t need to use a 3D ture, industrial design, vehicle design, 2017, is a challenge to the creative commu- application. The aim was to get the word mechanical engineering, 3D art and intenity to design solutions for a time when out there and to inspire the next phase,” rior design. As Young says, “The rules there are one million people living on Young explains. are: respect the physics of Mars, use your Mars. More specifically, the challenge “We received over 470 entries and we imagination and have fun!” envisages they’ll be living in Mawrth Vallis were truly blown away by them. They Asking Baier of NCC what her advice – Mars Valley in Welsh – already identified ranged from basic schematics to to entrants of this phase would be, she by NASA as a potential landing site. detailed architectural concepts and even says, “Design your base for people to

“We’re not trying to figure out why a some that looked like full on thesis have things to do. I suggest science and million people are on Mars, we are just papers,” he laughs. entertainment. Don’t design a Mars base accepting that they are there and living a With help from the advisory panel, like an Apollo spaceship that ignores happy life,” says Sean Young, HP’s world- which includes individuals representing human factors. Take into account that wide segment manager for people need space. You want product development and AEC, who is managing the competition. “This implies a ‘‘ It’s about the importance of beauty and people to be happy and healthy.” number of innovations in tech- design that surrounds us on Earth and Launch Forth nology and we wanted to tap into the talent and capability how we can implement this when planning Although the competition consists of these three phases, among architects, engineers, our Mars colonisation there are a whole range of civil engineers and designers to really reinvent life on anoth- Chantelle Baier, National Space Society other activities to get involved in at the Mars Home Planet er planet,” he adds. Blank sheet design brief space, design, architecture, science and ’’ competition website (launchforth.io/hpmars). This is being managed by Launch Forth, a software-asIn a sense, this is the ultimate ‘blank sheet virtual reality, among others fields, the a-service (SaaS) platform for product design brief’, because Mars is literally entries were whittled down into a shortlist. design. empty. Of course, there are considerations These were then presented to a preemi- Participants are encouraged not just to and limitations in terms of climate, soil nent panel of judges, including Dr Robert log in to submit their entry and log out and atmosphere, but you could literally let Zubrin, president of the Mars Society; again, but also to join the site’s communiyour imagination run riot in creating solu- Daniel Libeskind, architect and founder of ty to brainstorm, comment, give feedback tions for a Martian smart city. Studio Libeskind; Chris deFaria, presi- and collaborate around other non-chal-

Frustrations on our current planet dent of DreamWorks Animation Group; lenge categories such as lifestyle, farming could be solved for another. Participants and Andrew Anagnost, CEO of Autodesk. and robotics. There is even a leaderboard have the opportunity to completely The winners were announced at the to track progress and to see how you rethink how humans can survive and recent Autodesk University Las Vegas stack up against others in the community. thrive. Their mission: to think outside of 2017. Among them were Jesus Velazco “Launch Forth is a tried-and-tested cothe box or, more to the point, to think out- from Venezuela, who received the award creation platform from Local Motors that side the planet. in the architecture category for ‘Solar uses open innovation to accelerate the

As Baier says: “With Mars having one- Powered Colony’, which features a main product development process. And for third gravity of Earth and very, very low structure underground with only a solar Mars Home Planet, they have created a pressure, things that aren’t safe in one farm above ground. whole Mars community based on this planet might be safe in another. Perhaps Kenny Levick from the US received the platform and already 35,000 have signed you can design higher buildings that Infrastructure award for ‘Mars-Genesis & up,” explains Young. won’t topple over.” Mawrth-Integra: Interplanetary Design’, The competition accepts entries from

The Mars Home Planet competition, which focuses on how semi-autonomous both individuals and teams. A virtual team unlike its predecessor, Project Soane, architecture and the construction of an could even be set up amongst community which was targeted predominantly at early colonisation infrastructure network members on the platform. “For example, if

you’re an architect and you need some chemical engineering help, or you need somebody that really knows about the science of Mars, you could invite them to partner up and join your team,” he adds.

Baier considers this a real advantage, as it means entrants aren’t working in silos. “You get conversations started and that helps stimulate your imagination. I think that scientists like that, too, because they are so used to thinking about things like jet propulsion that they are often not allowing themselves to think creatively,” she says.

There is also a virtual reality (VR) element to the competition, running in parallel with these three phases. Using Mars Valley terrain from Fusion’s ‘Mars 2030’ VR game, based on real NASA-supplied terrain data and imagery, special effects company Technicolor will help co-creators on the Launch Forth platform to bring the winning entries into the Unreal Engine.

The end result will be a VR simulation of a smart city in the Mars Valley, created through the combined imagination of Mars Home Planet contributors.

This crowdsourced VR experience will be revealed when the year-long competition draws to a close at Siggraph in August 2018. Here, event visitors will be able to strap on an HTC Vive headset and imagine themselves as one of the one million people experiencing life on Mars.

Young is looking forward to the upcoming phases of the competition. “The competition is basically a petri dish for imagining the best possible utopian society and how this one million martians will be living in this built environment. And who knows where it could lead? We could even see these designs being used in Mars in the future.”

■ launchforth.io/hpmars Mars Home Planet Urbanisation Concept Challenge 1 Infrastructure 1 winner: Kenny Levick (United States), Mars-Genesis & Mawrth-Integra: Interplanetary Design focuses on how semi-autonomous architecture and the construction of an early colonisation infrastructure network can aid in the growth of humans on Mars. 2 Innovation in Science winner: Lake Matthew Team (United States), Artificial Geomagnetic Field to Protect a Crewed Mars Facility from Cosmic Rays