The best proposal will be awarded $10,000, the second $5,000 and the third $2,500. The twenty best articles will be published in the book
Mars Association is holding a competition to design the first human settlement on Mars. The best proposal will be awarded $10,000, the second $5,000 and the third $2,500. The twenty best articles will be published in the book: "Colonies on Mars: Plans for Settlement of the Red Planet." ("Mars Colonies: Plans for Settling the Red Planet.")
The colony, which will have to accommodate a thousand people, should exist as independently as possible, that is, with minimal reliance on imports from Earth.
Of course, in order to produce everything needed for a thousand people on Mars, more people are required and therefore the bidders are asked to plan the use of robots and artificial intelligence, they will be able to produce essential products such as food, fabrics, steel, glass and plastic on Mars and assemble useful buildings from them. Therefore, it is mandatory to include XNUMXD printing and advanced production technologies in the proposal. The colony must produce by itself all the food, clothing, housing, energy systems, consumer goods, vehicles and machinery for a thousand people, with a minimum number of key components such as advanced electronic products imported from Earth.
As mentioned, there will always be a need for imports, but the contestants must also think about exporting from Mars to Earth physical products or intellectual property that the colony could produce and transfer to Earth to pay for the imports. The assumption is that the cost of sending goods from Earth to Mars will be $500 per kg and the cost of sending a shipment from Mars to Earth will be $200 per kg (much less than the current cost of sending cargo to low orbit around the Earth which is over $10,000 per kg) The contestants must use these assumptions and plan the colony's economy, and see that after an initial investment of time and money it will be able to be independent.
The points in the competition will be distributed according to the following breakdown:
- 40 points on the technical design: which systems will be used? How will they work?
- 30 points will be awarded for the economic part - how can you be financially successful in the colony?
- 10 points will be awarded for social and cultural aspects, what society will look like on Mars, what schools will look like, cultural and artistic activities, sports and other activities. How, given the fact that this is a new beginning, how can life on Mars be better than life on Earth?
- 10 points on the political/organizational aspect - what will be its governance system?
- 10 aesthetic points: how can the colony be beautiful?
The competition is open to participants from all over the world who can work alone or as part of a group. Each contestant will have to submit a report of no more than 20 pages presenting their plan by March 31, 2019. About ten of the plans will earn their submitters a personal presentation
In front of an audience of judges selected by the Mars Society at the Mars Society International Conference in Los Angeles California in September 2019.
Competitors should attach the reports using The planning submission form on the award website.
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The only economy that can be for the settlers there is to find raw material that will be useless to the earth
First of all they will find a way to build an atmosphere on Mars. and water. Then everything will go smoothly.
Come on, to pay someone to design a colony that really really functions and works on its own, I would pay 50 million, not a measly 10 thousand
Before they think about the possibility of foreign life forms such as viruses or bacteria dormant in the Martian soil or in underground caves and the need for complete isolation