2400kcal per day per person is based on Earthly requirements - any chance that this could be substantially lower on Mars with its ~1/3 Earth-gravity?
Quote from: sanman on 08/05/2018 01:01 am2400kcal per day per person is based on Earthly requirements - any chance that this could be substantially lower on Mars with its ~1/3 Earth-gravity?How many calories you need per day depends on body and kind of work you do. 2400 kcal is for a male office worker, female office workers need closer to 2,000 kcal/day. Special Forces soldiers need 5,000 kcal/day. How many sedentary office workers will the colony have? I would say more realistic is to try to plan for 3,000-4,000 per day. In any case we won't know until we get there
Mylar is so lightweight it’s also trivial to bring from Earth. No making on Mars required.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 08/05/2018 01:00 amMylar is so lightweight it’s also trivial to bring from Earth. No making on Mars required.And unless it's perfectly flat (difficult for the size we'd be talking about here) it is useless at a distance as a reflecting surface that can direct enough focused light to boost plant growth.
Simply stretching it over a frame works, pretty much to get a decent mirror.
Quote from: spacenut on 08/01/2018 02:14 pmAs far as Mars colonization goes, I think 1/3 of the modules will be for living areas, 1/3 will be for working, manufacturing, etc, and 1/3 for food production. This may vary depending on what transpires. Americans are used to large homes compared to the rest of the world, also depending on how soon industrialization can occur, some industry will need a lot of space. For a wide variety of food, that too will require a lot of space. It won't happen overnight. Keeping in mind that the growing space will have to build out at the same pace as settlers arrive
As far as Mars colonization goes, I think 1/3 of the modules will be for living areas, 1/3 will be for working, manufacturing, etc, and 1/3 for food production. This may vary depending on what transpires. Americans are used to large homes compared to the rest of the world, also depending on how soon industrialization can occur, some industry will need a lot of space. For a wide variety of food, that too will require a lot of space. It won't happen overnight.
On the other hand I don't think we can really feed people, even in the most intensive way, for less than 200 m2 of farm growing space per person. I would not be surprised if people choose to live inside greenhouses in Mars colonies, just for the space
I roll over in my sleep, I'd be pretty bummed if I wiped out all the tomatoes that I was going to get for the next month... but yeah
People often imply martians would be living in cramped tin cans.. but on mars you must be living amongst the entire volume needed to support you. If people on earth did that, we would each be standing in the middle of an empty acre of farmland.
Quote from: KelvinZero on 09/11/2018 12:21 amPeople often imply martians would be living in cramped tin cans.. but on mars you must be living amongst the entire volume needed to support you. If people on earth did that, we would each be standing in the middle of an empty acre of farmland.I agree. We always see in scifi films the Mars base being sterile and full of electronic equipment, but I would expect it to be more like a jungle, with plants on many levels and the humans probably sleeping on folding beds coming out of the walls (to prevent blocking sunlight in the day time).The main problem will be the smell, as the soil is going to be human waste mixed with Martian soil, but people will get used to it over time.Food from Earth could be something simple like dried pampadoms, including essential vitamins in their ingrediants, which are very compact and should last a long time, and can be microwaved before eating or in emergencies eaten raw. ( I would expect 100g of these would be enough to survive on per person per day in a worst case scenario). Farming can then be ramped up over time to supplement the Earth food using the poop to build up the Martian soil.
I've read that use of human feces in agriculture can result in the growth/proliferation of organisms that can become intestinal parasites, etc. Shouldn't we be worried about that? How do you prevent that from happening? Do you have to do some kind of reprocessing of the human waste to prevent this?
So should it be possible to have greenhouses on Mars which [would be] transparent enclosed areas where plants with foliage could grow?
Quote from: sanman on 09/11/2018 03:30 amI've read that use of human feces in agriculture can result in the growth/proliferation of organisms that can become intestinal parasites, etc. Shouldn't we be worried about that? How do you prevent that from happening? Do you have to do some kind of reprocessing of the human waste to prevent this?Feces and other organic matter would go through a composting process in bio reactors designed to kill of parasites and harmful germs.