Initial set up of early Mars Colony

thingiverse

This is a concept of how an early Martian colony should be set up in the beginning of mankind's quest to colonize the red planet. The base is made up of nine prefabricated modules shaped like tuna-fish cans. Each module is designed to be launched by a Saturn V rocket (or another space vehicle of similar capabilities). Every module has the ability to be self-propelled thanks to four sets of motorized wheels (this feature is included in order to position the module with the other ones when constructing the colony). Also to be mentioned about these modules is that they are intended to be able to be converted to carry out specific tasks. The modules in this model are color coded to indicate their function: -Yellow is for where the Martians sleep and use the bathroom. -Blue is for storm shelters from hazardous space weather. -Gray is for storage of equipment and supplies. -Red is for research and medical treatment. -Orange is for recreation and also houses a kitchen. -Purple is for communications with survey teams and Earth. The areas that are white are inflatable connectors. They connect the modules to each other but can also connect to manned vehicles or allow Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA). The connectors can also be used as make shift storage just in case. The base also includes four greenhouses (colored green) to grow food, provide additional air filtration and help boost the moral of the Martians. Each greenhouse has a water filtration system that cleans and purifies water that may come from below the surface of Mars; urine from the crew is also recycled into safe drinking water. By the storage module are several cyan colored barrels. These are actually a single machine that is intended to produce and store fuel for the manned rovers and Earth Return Vehicles (not included in the model). The base is intended to support up to sixteen martians at once but with modifications, it would be able to house twenty-eight. Instructions I simply made one module, one connector and greenhouse in SketchUp. From there, I duplicated the features and placed into the formation of the colony. Once that was done, I transferred the file over to Blender for some final polishing and then uploaded the file.