The Red Colony

Away from the Mars base, robots flatten areas to create landing pads. The soil is melted and compacted to level the terrain, forming dirt landing pads that prevent the kick up of rocks and dust, increasing the safety of rocket landings.

Small, fully enclosed craters on Mars provide an Earth-like environment for human settlers. Being located at a lower elevation results in higher air pressure, and being enclosed allows the space to be oxygenated. This eliminates the need for spacesuits.

The higher air pressure allows for liquid water on the floor of the crater. As the water evaporates and comes in contact with the dome, it condenses creating rain.

The underground structure protects the inhabitants from radiation. The transparent dome top lets in sunlight allowing for a field of plants to grow in the purified native Martian soil.

A cable car transporter carrying astronauts and cargo from the surface down into crater habitats.

Rovers located at the ends act as motors, pulling the cabins back and forth.

Ice harvesters travel to mapped resource locations. A sublimation drill melts through the ice layers and turns the ice from solid to gas; releasing water vapor for purification and collection.

The Ice Droid works through the night with onboard floodlights and heavy thermal insulation.

A glue created from in-situ plants (plants grown on Mars), such as corn, in aeroponic (mist) greenhouses. The sugars from the plants are extracted and turned into a glue (a biopolymer).

This plant glue is mixed with Martian soil and rock to create a building material filament that can be used by the 3D habitat printers, and it is also recyclable.

A modified, non-pressurized Cybertruck with cargo and crew variants. Astronaut spacesuits plug into the truck via an umbilical cord, providing heating and comms, with access to back up oxygen and carbon scrubbing.

Manual and autonomous.