Mission to Mars 2030

Maria Aquino, Erika McKitrick, Tyler Jacobson

November 15, 2017
Compass Academy Mission Panel
Mission To Mars 2030

Introduction

An existing team will complete the mission to Mars in the year of In order to
accomplish this however the geologist will need to have a location picked, the structural
engineer must have a structure that meets the requirements of the location picked, and
the biologist will have the plan for the ecosystem ready to go.

Geoscientist

First things first, there needs to be a place to land and stay on. A great option is
Gale Crater because of its past and its features. To begin, Gale Crater was, in fact, a
lake. This is important because there may be groundwater there and even if there isn’t,
there is still the clay and minerals at the bottom of the crater’s mountain, Mount Sharp.
Mount Sharp is a 3.4 mile high mound in the middle of the crater that was created by
the wind. Mount Sharp is where the structure will most likely be built on. Also, Gale
Crater is 96 miles in diameter and it is not flat, but it’s not too bumpy a place to land on.

Staying in Gale Crater has its pros and cons. The pros on being in Gale Crater is
the temperature and the sunlight, while the con is more wind and dust storms. First, the
temperature at Gale Crater can go between -130° F to 32° F, which is average, but
decent. Next, since the structure will be on top of Mount Sharp and there are no walls
blocking the sun, there will be more sunlight, which is absolutely necessary in order to
sustain the ecosystem. Now for the con, the highest amount of wind is 60 miles pe’r
hour, which isn’t a whole lot, but the structure will be wind resistant anyway.

If the spacecraft lands in the wrong location, then the team will decide whether it is a
safe and beneficial place to stay in. If they decide not to stay, they will use the cars that
are provided for them and they will search for the original location. If they find an area
along the way that is more beneficial, than they can decide whether to set camp there or
go to Gale Crater. Although there will be setbacks in the future, preparations will be
made to prevent these setbacks.

Biologist - Erika McKitrick

The biologist part is talking about our ecosystem. There are three components to
an ecosystem. The components are water, oxygen(O2), and food. First thing on the
agenda is how the team will be obtaining water on Mars. The water will be gathered by
the team by possibly finding ice ground water which is near the equator. The humans
and animals will possibly get water from the ground water, but we will be bringing water
from earth to be cautious. Humans need 20 litres of water per person on our trip to Mars
every day. The deposits of ice near the equator in Gale Crater will be heated up after
we collect the ice. The ice will be put into a conditioner drip pan. It will be heated from
the oven in the spaceship powered by solar panels. These plants all together will need
about 700 litres a day of water.The ph levels for the water will be around 5.5 - 7.0 for the
plants.

The water the team will collect will be purified through the Lifesaver bottle that
can purify the salt from the Mars water. On Mars there will be 100 Lifesaver bottles for
the mission, since humans will need 428,384 litres of water for three years divided by
6,000 litres capacity equals 90. For precautions there will be ten more Lifesaver bottles
(in case of damaged bottles). Another precaution, the team will take is bringing water
from earth to Mars. Another way to conserve water is through rationing and recycling
the water in our ecosystem. Before recycling can begin, as mentioned before there will
water on a space shuttle coming over from earth. The water containers that are carried
over from earth look like duffle bags and each one holds about 90 lbs. It is really
expensive to ferry water from Earth. Therefore, the water we bring over from earth we
will be very diligent about rationing and recycling the water.

The crew will be using a regenerative system that will be able to recycle almost
every drop of water on the station in Mars and support a crew of three with a minimal
amount of getting more water from earth. The Water Recycling System will reclaim
waste waters from the space shuttle fuel cells, from urine, from brushing teeth, and
washing hands, and by condensing humidity from the air. Animals and the crew
members waste will be reclaimed. It might sound gross, but water leaving the space
station’s purification machines will be cleaner than what most of us drink on Earth.
Once the water is purified the crew members will use it efficiently. There will be no
faucets, only sponge baths and water on wash cloths to clean hands.

Along with water and air, food is essential to survival of the crew. There will be
the primary consumers, which are the chickens and Alpine goats. The chickens (hens
and roosters) will have tomatoes, strawberries, three litres of water a day, and oats from
the wheat as their nutritious diet. The two roosters, and the five hens will give us one
egg every day. From the eggs, the team will gain protein in their diet. When the
roosters or hens reach an older less productive age--they will be butchered and be used
for food for the crew. Through reproduction of the species the older ones will be
replaced by the chicks of the same gender. The chickens meat contain, protein, niacin,
selenium, choline,pantothenic acid, B6, and B12 which are essential to the crew’s
health. Now the alpine goats will be fed wheat, fruits, vegetables, nine litres of
water,and the extra leftovers of the crew's meals. The goats meat will give humans a
good source of protein. The goat meat contains protein,selenium, biotin, phosphorus,
choline, and calcium.The alpine goats milk will provide the crew with calcium,
magnesium, vitamin D,C, A, B1, and riboflavin for the humans to survive. The goats will
be replenished through reproduction.

Of course food covers meat based products and plant based products for the diet
of the crew. This next paragraph will outline the plants needed for plant based food.
Soil will be brought over from earth in a shuttle enough for the following garden. There
will be 24 strawberries seeds, 81 spinach seeds, ten cactus seeds, 81 zucchini seeds,
180 lettuce seeds, 72 tomatoes seeds, 60 lima bean seeds, twelve apple trees, ten oak
trees, eleven peach trees, 4 bushels of wheat seeds, and 12 aloe vera plants. They
contain vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C and folate or folic acid. Now the lima bean contains
protein, vitamin B1, phosphorus, potassium, iron, vitamin B6, folate, and magnesium.
The wheat will be created to give the animals and humans grain to eat. The team will
use the wheat to create bread and the team will bring flour. Which will be stored in the
storage area. An oven will be on the spaceship to create the bread. These producers
give the humans carbohydrates or C6H2O6, so the team can have carbs that we need
to be able to survive. The plants will need LED light to grow, while there is no sunlight. If
the plants fail to give the team enough O2 there will be oxygen tanks for emergency
enough for each crew member. Each crew member would need two scuba tanks of
oxygen a day.

The plants will create O2 for the team to inhale as the team give the plants CO2.
To create enough O2 for one person, there would need to be eight trees per person.
The plants will need fertilizer, so it will be created through our food waste and
defecation. The trees will need three feet deep, twenty feet wide of soil, and fertilizer.
The soil will come from earth that the team brings. The trees will be mature enough to
grow fruit on Mars by growing the plants before hand. The plants will need water a ph of
5.5 t o 7.0 The decomposer will be the Red Wiggler Worms. We will have 20 of these
worms per plant, They will create the compost by eating the defecation and food waste
to the plants. The fertilizer that the Red wigglers will create contains nitrogen. These
plants all together will need about 700 litres a day of water.

The plants will grow the plants on the way to Mars by using a plant pillow, which
is a container that expands as the plants grow in the spaceships and on Mars. For
emergencies in the spaceship will contain dehydrated food for the team to eat. One
human breathes in 9.5 tonnes of O2 per year. Each crew member needs 740 kg of
oxygen per year. Which is roughly seven or eight trees worth of oxygen which we
brought enough per human and extra for the animals. The team will be using 550 litres
of pure O2 a day.

For the aquaponics, for the plants this program will need fish. The type of fish for
the trip will be crappies. They are a freshwater fish and will be fed zooplankton.
Zooplankton will be collected enough for the crappie. The fish will provide essential
proteins and omega oils for the crew’s health. The fish waste will go into the water,
which the plants will purify the water, so the water will stay clean for the fish. The team
will collect the fish's waste to create more fertilizer. These animals will get oxygen
through the plants.

If for some reason the team does not have enough water we will have to limit the
amount of animals, and plants. To get protein the team will use the Lima beans to get
protein if This process would help gather protein for the team. The team would bring
emergency packaged dehydrated food for if the team did not have enough food. This
concludes the ecosystem on Mars.

Structural Engineer - Tyler Jacobson

The structure will be in the shape of a box. This is because it is easier to build
and much more stable than other shapes. There structure will use a very strong metal
called titanium. The entrance will be a large garage on the side that can be used for
moving supplies in and out. The garage would be air tight seal to prevent oxygen from
escaping. Supports will be built in the ground to make the structure even more stable.
Their structure will be fairly large and will have more than enough space for living.
 Inside there will be four main areas, a place for the animals, space for the plants,
an area for trees and a living quarters area. One of the largest areas will be the animal
area as we will need to have several of every to have a good supply of food. The other
large area will be for growing trees that can supply us with wood and fruits. The only
way natural light can get inside of our structural will be through the garage. As we can’t
have natural light inside LEDs will be used to grow plants.

Their structure will need to be able to hold up against wind, small asteroids, and
other natural occurrences. Of course the box shape will allow much better resistance to
these. We would likely use titanium as it is very strong and will last for a long duration of
time. One of the few downsides to titanium would be that it rusts like other metals and is
extremely heavy. The rust problem can be solved with the help of anti rust paint. Even
though titanium is heavy, loads of it can be brought up to Mars.

Conclusion

Even after all the information gathered, there will be obstacles for each scientist in the
future. For example, it is discovered that there really isn’t water on Mars. If that
happens, there will have to be a change of plans, such as bringing the water on the
spaceship and limiting other supplies, like the amount of animals and plants. Another
possibility is the engines for the spaceship explode, which delays the trip. In conclusion,
there will be obstacles in the future, but preparations are or will be made.