From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   Watch this space, where Alain Fournier advised that...   
   > On 2024-10-07 6:05 p.m., Snidely wrote:   
   >> Snidely asserted that:   
   >>> Alain Fournier suggested that ...   
   >>>> Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars soon. I am wondering what would be a   
   >>>> good design for a Martian colony. I am assuming the following:   
   >>>> 1. Colonists will want to have private quarters (where others can’t go   
   >>>> without consent).   
   >>>> 2. Colonists will want to be able to evacuate their habitat rapidly (in   
   >>>> case of fire for instance). And do so from two opposite ends of their   
   >>>> habitat. Here rapidly probably means without putting on a spacesuit,   
   >>>> unless one can design a spacesuit you can slip into in about 2 seconds.   
   >>>> 3. Point 2, applies even if there is a party in the private quarters of a   
   >>>> colonist (therefore, you can’t just have a shelter sufficient for the   
   >>>> number of inhabitants of a given habitat).   
   >>>> 4. Colonist will want to be able to go see other colonist or go to work   
   >>>> without having to put on spacesuits.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> My solution, and I am not sure it really is a good one, is to make   
   >>>> habitats in pairs. Have two habitats in a big tube, and a passageway   
   >>>> between the two habitats. The tube as a whole is pressurized, so you   
   >>>> don’t need an airlock to get out of a habitat. You would have airlocks   
   at   
   >>>> the end of each tube. So once everyone is evacuated from the tube, you   
   >>>> can depressurize to put out a fire. You also need to have sufficient   
   >>>> ventilation capabilities in the passageway. If there is a fire in one   
   >>>> habitat, there is likely to be some smoke going into the passageway. You   
   >>>> don’t want to have to depressurize to get rid of smoke every time   
   someone   
   >>>> burns his toasts.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Workspaces (offices, labs, machine shops etc) would be similarly paired   
   >>>> in tubes, albeit possibly much bigger tubes.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> You can link the habitat tubes by the ends and sometimes on hubs. It   
   >>>> would be important to have a few hubs, not just a big loop with all the   
   >>>> habitats in a circle. Having crisscrossing “streets” allow you to go   
   >>>> anywhere even if you have a section that is closed because of a fire,   
   >>>> smoke or what not.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> What do you think? How would you design a colony?   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Alain Fournier   
   >>>   
   >>> I expect that the first buildings will be very basic, like ISS modules.    
   >>> The 2nd generation (of buildings) will probably build around the 1st,   
   >>> perhaps connected by a hub.  During both of these phases, most facilities   
   >>> will be communal, with perhaps "private" sleeping closets, but maybe also   
   >>> barracks style bunking.  But of course, these will be the advance team and   
   >>> not the Mayflower passengers.   
   >   
   > Yes I agree. I was thinking about "the Mayflower passengers" not the advance   
   > team. Musk seems to want to get there fast.   
   >   
   >>> It won't be before the 3rd generation that "apartments" will be built, and   
   >>> that will probably be as a row of suites on a common hallway; perhaps a   
   >>> hallway in front or in back.   
   >>   
   >> where "or" means "and"   
   >>   
   >>> "Houses" will probably be a long way off.   
   >>   
   >> I don't see "houses" before in situ building materials are in use, which   
   >> will probably require a significant support crew even if fabrication is   
   >> primarily with robotic equipment.   
   >>   
   >> Your concern about suitless evacuation will probably involve pressurized   
   >> garages for excursion vehicles.   
      
   > I'm not sure what you mean with that. If you have a party at home and a fire   
   > breaks out, not all guests will have their excursion vehicles in your garage   
   > (in fact there is a good chance that not all guests will have an excursion   
   > vehicle at all). You might not want to plan on everyone getting into the   
   > vehicle in the garage. Also, if you evacuate via one excursion vehicle for   
   > many people, you have to make sure that smoke does not fill the vehicle while   
   > boarding.   
      
   Yeah, the suggestion needs a little more bike shedding, but then I   
   still don't think individual houses are likely for a long time, because   
   on Mars you don't just chop down a few trees to make a log cabin, or   
   bundle reeds together.   
      
   I think the resources required will dictate that the colony will spend   
   a long time growing as underground "domes" that serve as apartment   
   building and workshop, and that the apartment units will open on the   
   "commons", and may include an evacuation hallway on the "rim" of the   
   dome.  Don't read this as saying the "dome" will be a hemisphere; I   
   think that shape will only be for specialized units, and that a   
   rectilinear or grid layout will be common.   
      
   The evacuation hallway could be where cables, air, water, and sewer are   
   routed, with additional trunks  in sections of the "dome".  Individual   
   units may have sealable doors that air-tight enough for emergency   
   purposes without necessarily being a long-term sealed hatch (consider   
   the airlocks on the ISS for examples of the latter).   
      
   I certainly don't expect the SpaceX illustration of a giant transparent   
   hemispherical dome enclosing green spaces and building ... at least not   
   in the first century of colonization.   
      
   > I prefer the hallway evacuation method. A long hallway with sections   
   > separated by "sealable" doors. If some smoke gets in the hallway, you go to   
   > the next section. By a sealable door I mean that not much smoke would cross   
   > the door. Other doors would be air tight meaning you can depressurise one   
   > side of the door but not the other side. Sealable doors would be openable and   
   > closable as fast as normal Earthly doors therefore suitable as an escape   
   > route. Airtight doors allow to extinguish fires by depressurising a section   
   > once everyone is out.   
   >   
   >   
   > Alain Fournier   
      
   /dps   
      
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