It doesn’t look like the cosiest of abodes, but this Mars showhome is a flashforward to what homes on Mars could look like.
Maybe we should re-think those retirement homes in Tenerife!
To launch the National Geographic’s new docudrama Mars, they will be unveiling a model home so earthlings can see what life could be like on the Red Planet.
The igloo-esque home could be available in a lovely canyon area of Mars called Valles Marineris from 2037…actually not that far off!
The showhome depicts a house made of recycled spacecraft parts and bricks made from microwaved Martian soil (regolith).
There are the normal parts like a bedroom and kitchen, but for human survival on the planet which has an atmosphere one hundredth as thick as Earth’s, there need to be some very different features as well.
The walls need to be 12ft thick to protect people from cosmic rays and a double air-locked door can keep the home pressurised.
As well as this, there would be underground tunnels connecting the windowless houses, complete with simulated sunlight.
Stephen Petranek, author of How We’ll Live on Mars, said:
We don’t think of our houses as things that keep us alive, but on Mars your dwelling will be a survival centre.
Businessmen like Elon Musk and Amazon found Jeff Bezos are working on plans to get humans to Mars as soon as 2o24!
The showhome will be open to the public at the Royal Observatory Greenwich from November 10-16.
I think it would be so cool to be called a Martian.
