FIRST CITY ON MARS

Are High-Rise Apartments with Atmospheric Views Planned for the Red Planet?

The human fascination with Mars is long and deep rooted, with countless spacecraft Martian missions since NASA’s Vikings first landing in 1976.As well as other missions, there are numerous fleets of orbiters that have mapped Mars over the years from the Soviet Union, NASA, the European Space Agency and, lately, India. The next big, bold step for mankind? The human quest to build a sustainable city on the red planet. The plans were unveiled by architecture studio ABIBOO, which has offices located all around the world, including two in the United States. 

Nüwa, the proposed capital city of the Martian development, is just one of five urban centres planned at Tempe Mensa on Mars. Created vertically rather than horizontally, to wedge into the side of a cliff, the design has painstakingly sought to effectively diminish the effect of atmospheric pressure and radiation, the latter of which can prove deadly.

To achieve its ambitious vision, ABIBOO needs to be able use to help create steel and build exclusively from materials on the planet, which is what will make the city sustainable. Both carbon dioxide and water is present on the planet - several spacecraft have spotted channels grooved into the terrain that suggest ancient water sources. In fact, the Curiosity rover’s mandate on Mars was to search for habitable conditions in its thin atmosphere and what is known for sure that there is ice at the poles — and possibly frosty locations elsewhere on the planet. The question is if the ice is capable of melting enough water in the summer long enough to support any microbes. 

Building won’t be easy on a planet that has a surface gravity unlike anywhere on Earth with Mars only 37 percent of what you would find on our home planet. Though what it does allow is for structures to be taller without collapsing - the Red Planet’s Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano known on a planet in the Solar System, is a staggering 16 miles (25 kms) high witha diameter approximately the same as the state of Arizona, according to NASA. 

Methane’s presence on Mars can be interpreted as a sign of biological activity — microbes emit it — or even of geologic activity. And active planets, it is thought, are more likely to have life on them. So the question of methane on Mars is one that scientists are trying to figure out. The consensus? There is no consensus. Telescopic observations have had wildly different measurements over the years, and few spacecrafts have been designed to probe for the element in detail. During its mission, Curiosity rover detected tenfold spikes in methane its target area of research, but scientists remain unclear where it came from and what caused the fluctuations. 

According to ABIBOO, the city of Nuwa would still include all of the mainstays of a city on Earth, including homes, offices, and green spaces. Designs have been painstakingly created used scientific research from The Mars Society and the SONet network as its root source. Detailed analysis in collaboration with space scientists has helped the designers better understand the unique demands, considerations and circumstances of the architectural blueprint. Keen to snap up a swanky Red Planet penthouse with atmospheric views? There’s plenty of time to save up for a down payment for your grandchildren - construction isn't projected to commence until 2054 with move-in dates unlikely to be before 2100.