R.M.H. (Recessed Modular Habitat)

by Dutchmogul

The Recessed Modular Habitat is designed to utilize the greatest amount of material resources natively available on Mars, in order to minimize the supplies to be transported, thus minimizing cost. There are a number of primary concerns that must be addressed when planning a long-term mission to a hostile environment; the most obvious of these are the need for water, air, and food. Secondary concerns are related mainly to the specific environment that we are focusing on, and include temperature control, the ability to generate non fuel-derived power, and providing for some defense against the intense weather experienced on the surface of the planet. We will discuss proposed solutions to these concerns, each in turn, in the outline below. The proposed mission would take place in two phases, comprising two separate launches, approximately two years apart, to coincide with optimal Martian launch windows. During Phase 1, the first rocket would carry equipment, a load of elemental sodium, potassium nitrate, communications equipment, and a set of five robots. A landing site would be chosen to satisfy the overlap of two basic conditions: Proximity to a polar region with significant quantities of ice, and a region with some notable geothermal activity. Upon landing at a satisfactory site, the robots would set about constructing the habitat. Robot1 would be tasked with boring three large cylinders into the martian landscape; these cylinders would be about twenty feet across, and ten feet deep. These recesses will form the superstructure of the three rooms of our habitat. This format was chosen, because, by lowering the habitat below the surface, it becomes at once robustly insulated, as well as impervious to wind storms. As this process is taking place, Robot2 will gather a large supply of ice from the nearby ice fields. This ice will be melted down and mixed with our sodium to form sodium hydroxide, and hydrogen. The hydrogen will be captured for short-term power generation,