[ExI] See the Wild Plans for Nüwa, a Proposed City on Mars Built Inside a Giant Cliff

[John Grigg]

Elon Musk and Kanye West shall lead them...

"Despite being able to land rovers
<https://singularityhub.com/2021/02/18/7-minutes-of-terror-the-technology-perseverance-will-need-to-survive-landing-on-mars/>
on Mars and fly helicopters
<https://singularityhub.com/2021/04/23/a-helicopter-flew-on-mars-for-the-first-time-a-space-physicist-explains-why-thats-such-a-big-deal/>
there, it seems humans are still somewhat far away from actually setting
foot on the red planet. But for an endeavor as unprecedented as colonizing
another planet, you have to dream big—and plan ahead. That’s what an
international team of scientists and other experts are doing, and they’ve
come up with not just a design, but a full-fledged plan to build the first
Martian city, complete with sustainable housing, food, transportation, and
energy.

Described in a paper
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349870316_The_Nuwa_Concept_A_development_model_for_a_self-sustainable_city_on_Mars>
published in March, the city is the brainchild of architecture firm ABIBOO
Studio and a multidisciplinary group of space experts from academia and the
private sector called SONet <https://sonet-hub.com/> (short for Sustainable
Offworld Network). The Mars Society <https://www.marssociety.org/>
solicited plans for a Martian city in 2020, and this design, called Nüwa,
was one of several finalists. A video that looks like it could’ve come
straight out of a Hollywood sci-fi movie gives a glimpse of the design.

Nüwa would be the capital in a design made up of five linked cities, each
housing 200,000 to 250,000 people. Nüwa’s location, Tempe Mensa, was chosen
because its geography will act as a natural shield from radiation; the area
contains an expansive mesa bordered by tall sheer cliffs, and the idea is
to excavate those cliffs and build the city inside. The location and design
would also give residents indirect access to sunlight, protect them from
meteorites if one were to strike nearby, and help minimize the difference
in atmospheric pressure between the inside and outside of the buildings.

“If we were to construct the buildings as on Earth, the buildings would
tend to explode from the pressure. The solar and gamma radiation on Mars
forced us to build spaces that are not directly exposed to the sky,” said
Alfredo Muñoz, founder of ABIBOO Studio, in a press release.

The “macro-buildings” designed for the city are modular and in the shape of
huge tubes (10 meters wide by 60 meters long), with different models meant
for living and working. The modules would be linked by tunnels and
elevators, not unlike those found in urban areas on Earth. All the modules
include space for green areas, as well as areas called “snow domes” that
would help dissipate heat and clean the air through condensation. Each
macro-building would have an air shower at its entrance, which visitors
would use to sterilize microbes and other potentially harmful matter."

https://singularityhub.com/2021/05/19/nuwa-a-proposed-city-on-mars-would-be-built-in-a-giant-cliff-face-and-house-1-million-people/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20210531/9795a423/attachment.htm>