Download Mars Colony Project: Write Up Guideline Situation: SpaceX is

Mars Colony Project: Write Up Guideline
Situation: SpaceX is searching for proposals for a viable, self-sustaining colony in
space. As a part of their proposal process, all entrants need to
1) Design a miniature “ecocolumn” that includes all aspects of a viable ecosystem
2) Create said “ecocolumn” and record success over a 2-week period
3) Reflect on the success of your eco-column and provide suggestions for
improvements to your initial design
Part 1: Surveying the Necessity of a Mars Colony
Why would a Mars colony be beneficial to humans?
-What scientific benefits could the Mars colony provide?
Hint: Can we do research on things on Mars that we cannot do on
Earth?
Google: “What research is done in space”?
-How can the five “justifications” (moral, ecological, aesthetic, utilitarian,
cultural) be used to support a Mars colony?
Hint: Ecological – All aspects of an ecosystem are important for
the survival of the whole ecosystem. We can use the Mars colony
to preserve endangered species on Earth (like a Noah’s ark of
sorts), so that if the species is ever completely destroyed on
Earth, we can reintroduce it from the Mars colony.
Google: Justification for space exploration
-What is carrying capacity, and how could a fears concerning Earth’s carrying
capacity help support the construction of a Mars colony?
Hint: Many scientists believe we have surpassed Earth’s carrying
capacity already. If this is true, we need to find new places to live,
or else quickly decrease our population
Google: Carrying capacity of Earth
-What background research has been done concerning the plausibility of
space colonization?
Hint: Researched from MIT recently announced that with current
technology, every human on a Mars colony would die within 68
days
Google: Mars Colony
Part 2: Designing a Mars Colony
How do we create a livable community on Mars?
Ecology:
-What are the current conditions on Mars and how do those affect the ability
of life to survive?
Hint: Temperatures on the poles of Mars can be around -150 C,
but near the equator, temperatures of around 20 C have been
recorded. Most every known organism would die in -150 C
weather, but 20 C is a nice fall day. Consider this when designing
the location of the colony
Google: Mars Climate
-What type of organism would be best adapted to the earliest levels of
transition on Mars? How would these organisms help assist later colonizers?
Hint: r-selected species reproduce quickly, which means that
they also evolve at a faster rate, as natural selection has a wider
range of individuals (and a wider range of traits) to act upon. K-
selected species tend to have longer lifespans and spend more
energy on childcare.
Google: r vs. K selection
-If humans are to inhabit Mars indefinitely, what considerations are
necessary?
Hint: Consider the human life cycle. If humans are to inhabit the
colony forever, they will need to have children (what resources
do we need that), they will need to be educated, they will need to
reproduce, and they will need to die (what happens with the
bodies afterwards?).
Google: Human life cycle
-Create a food web (including humans) that could reasonably be
implemented on the Mars colony. Why did you select the organisms you did
for this food web?
Hint: Consider what you need to eat, what you eat needs to eat,
what needs to support the producers at the bottom of every food
chain, and how decomposers will fit into it all
Google: Human food web
-What energy considerations factored into the food web design you chose?
Hint: Cold-blooded animals are actually more efficient than
warm blooded animals. That means I can support more humans
if we all eat crickets than if we all eat rabbit.
Google: Energy efficient food
-What is the importance of biodiversity being factored into your design?
Hint: In the early 1800s in Ireland, only one type of potato was
being used to feed the country (low biodiversity). When the
potato blight hit, nearly all of the potatoes were destroyed, and
thousands starved to death. Had Ireland planted more varieties
of potatoes (high biodiversity), they would have had alternatives
to survive on.
Google: Biodiversity Importance
-What would be the carrying capacity of your model? What factors would
impact this carrying capacity? How quickly would your inhabitants reach this
carrying capacity?
Hint: Research how much land it takes to feed a human. Then
make an estimate of how large your colony will be. Do some
simple math to come up with the total number of humans your
colony will support
Google: How much land is needed to feed a person
Biogeochemical Cycles:
-What nutrients are currently available on Mars? What nutrients would need
to be imported in order to support the proposed life on Mars?
Hint: Mars has very little oxygen in it’s atmosphere, but organisms
need oxygen for cellular respiration. We would need to develop a
way to introduce oxygen into the environment
Google: Mars Earth Comparison
Part 3: Creating and observing a model ecosystem
What lessons can be learned from a model ecosystem?
-What are the different aspects of your model?
Hint: Discuss your design AND what biotic and abiotic factors you chose
to include
-How successful was your model at sustaining life? What factors impacted
the success or failure of specific aspects?
Hint: In all of these ecosystems, plants grew (success) and fish died
(failure). Why did this happen?
-What improvements could be made to your model?
Hint: Mold was an issue in a lot of the bottles. This was likely due to too
much moisture. So, we would need some sort of moisture control.
-In what ways is this model useful for creating the Mars colony?
Hint: It had the major components of an ecosystem
-What are the limitations of this model in terms of the Mars colony?
Hint: We made a lot of additions and adjustments to the ecosystem. We
would not have the luxury of doing this with a planet 200 million km
away
-What was successful in your ecosystem?
Hint: In all of the bottles, the plants grew, and water seemed to transfer
easily between chambers
-At what times did you decide to intervene in your ecosystem? How did this
impact the survival of the organisms in the ecosystem?
Hint: Most of you chose to feed your fish
Part 4: Manipulations within the model ecosystem
How can an ecosystem model be used to test environmental interactions?
-What was the impact of your manipulation within your ecosystem?
Hint: If you inserted food for the cricket or the fish, you helped them
survive. But, is this representative of what we could do on Mars?
-What inferences can you make about biotic and abiotic interactions in the
world from this experimentation?
Hint: If you changed the water, you helped change an abiotic factor
Part 5: Conclusions
What are the implications of a manmade ecosystem?
-What are some concerns about the ability of the transplanted organisms to
adapt to their new environment? Do you anticipate some organisms being
able to adapt too well? What controls are proposed to ensure no organism
becomes too invasive?
Hint: Think of the cane toad. It had no natural predators, and abundant
prey. The result was an out-of-control population
Google: Characteristics of invasive species
-How can the Mars colony be used as a harbor for endangered species?
Hint: What if a major disaster (like an asteroid or nuclear warfare)
wipes out life on Earth? Think of the Mars colony like a “Noah’s Ark”.
Google: Norway Seed Bank
-What lessons can be taken from previous failed human interventions in
ecosystems? How will you prevent similar errors on the Mars colony?
Hint: Cane toads were introduced to eat cane grubs, that didn’t work
out. Starlings were introduced to make Central Park like Shakespeare’s
garden, that didn’t work out. Generally, it’s a bad idea to introduce a
non-native species unless you’re really, really sure it won’t become
invasive.
Google: Cane toad, starlings, Asian carp, lionfish, famous invasive species
-What concerns exist for invasive pests? What precautions are being put into
place to prevent this?
Hint: Sometimes, humans can introduce a species that can become far
too
Google: Zebra Mussel, California Eucalyptus
-What regulations can be put into place to ensure your colony is able to
survive indefinitely? What examples from current laws on Earth can you
derive regulations from?
Hint: When you fly into a new country, you must pass through customs,
and they prevent you from bringing in any produce or animals. This is
because the plants and animals could enter the wild and destroy the
native ecosystem.
Google: Invasive species prevention