MIT Team Wins Mars City Design Contest for 'Redwood Forest' Idea


An MIT team won first place for urban design with the Redwood Forest, a series of woodsy habitats enclosed in open, public domes that would reside on the Martian surface.
Credit: Image courtesy of Valentina Sumini


MIT’s winning design, which the team calls Redwood Forest, is a collection of "tree habitats" connected through a system of tunnels called "roots." The roots would provide safe access to other tree habitats, private spaces and "shirt-sleeve transportation," according to a statement from MIT. The tunnels would also provide protection from cosmic radiation, micrometeorite impacts and extreme changes in temperature.

Each dome-shaped tree habitat would house up to 50 people, and the team's vision calls for building about 200 of them, to support a settlement of 10,000 pioneers. The structures would include private and public spaces as well as plants and water harvested from the northern plains of Mars, according to the statement.


“Every tree habitat in Redwood Forest will collect energy from the sun and use it to process and transport the water throughout the tree, and every tree is designed as a water-rich environment,” says winning team member Geroge Lordos MBA '00.
Credit: Image courtesy of Valentina Sumini

https://www.space.com/38881-mit-team-win...ition.html

Looks good. I'd live there...

How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

(11-25-2017, 06:17 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

Where's your sense of adventure? No grumpy old farts will be allowed on Mars anyway  

(11-25-2017, 06:22 PM)Octo Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:17 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

Where's your sense of adventure? No grumpy old farts will be allowed on Mars anyway  

Who determines who is grumpy old fart?

The Council

(11-26-2017, 02:47 AM)They Wrote:  The Council

LOL
I trust Kittehs over current Pols

Is the sphere shape the best shape for the weather on Mars? By what criteria do these designers follow? A guessing game as usual.

DOH...    Everyone knows the martians live underground already and only come out to make giant face pictures in rock cliffs and maybe carve a statue or two.

(11-26-2017, 06:18 AM)ohnobody Wrote:  DOH...    Everyone knows the martians live underground already and only come out to make giant face pictures in rock cliffs and maybe carve a statue or two.

Really? Well, I don't believe a thing I am told lately. I have to use my brain.

(11-25-2017, 06:22 PM)Octo Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:17 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

Where's your sense of adventure? No grumpy old farts will be allowed on Mars anyway  

I've no intent on going to Mars. Besides, I imagine we will all be long gone before they start putting people there.

Anyone thinking growing redwoods in the dome was a good idea was casting a pc sympathy vote. It was a terrible idea. It would take a few hundred years for them to grow and needles are not goes for absorbing CO2 and expelling O2. If the really want a plant that is plausible then they should have said hemp. It grows fast, can be used for many products (especially food) and is the best plant for producing O2 AND enriches the soil where others deplete it.

(11-26-2017, 06:10 AM)UniqueStranger Wrote:  Is the sphere shape the best shape for the weather on Mars? By what criteria do these designers follow? A guessing game as usual.

The sphere is the strongest shape but a sphere that is big enough to house redwood trees would be massive. I don't think they would be able to get it built before storms hit and destroyed their efforts and the amounts of materials required for it would be prohibitive. If they want to build on Mars they will have to find raw materials on Mars and figure out a way to process them and set up manufacturing which will require quite an energy source, etc.

I'm all for colonizing Mars but it is a pipe dream with our current tech.

But I would LOVE to go there if I could teleport there and back. See? I have a sense of adventure just not a death wish!

Did you know that the people who are slated to go to Mars will get a title?

The late Mr or Ms...

(11-26-2017, 01:46 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:22 PM)Octo Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:17 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

Where's your sense of adventure? No grumpy old farts will be allowed on Mars anyway  

I've no intent on going to Mars. Besides, I imagine we will all be long gone before they start putting people there.

Anyone thinking growing redwoods in the dome was a good idea was casting a pc sympathy vote. It was a terrible idea. It would take a few hundred years for them to grow and needles are not goes for absorbing CO2 and expelling O2. If the really want a plant that is plausible then they should have said hemp. It grows fast, can be used for many products (especially food) and is the best plant for producing O2 AND enriches the soil where others deplete it.

+1000 but you can count on govts and industry to keep that out of the equation, as more research is needed.

(11-26-2017, 01:46 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:22 PM)Octo Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:17 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

Where's your sense of adventure? No grumpy old farts will be allowed on Mars anyway  

I've no intent on going to Mars. Besides, I imagine we will all be long gone before they start putting people there.

Anyone thinking growing redwoods in the dome was a good idea was casting a pc sympathy vote. It was a terrible idea. It would take a few hundred years for them to grow and needles are not goes for absorbing CO2 and expelling O2. If the really want a plant that is plausible then they should have said hemp. It grows fast, can be used for many products (especially food) and is the best plant for producing O2 AND enriches the soil where others deplete it.

I don't think they're talking about real trees... I assumed the 'trees' were artificial and part of the design

(11-26-2017, 03:27 PM)Octo Wrote:  

(11-26-2017, 01:46 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:22 PM)Octo Wrote:  

(11-25-2017, 06:17 PM)Kreeper Wrote:  How do they plan on getting all those materials there? And do they realize how long it will take those trees to grow AFTER the construction is finished?

And couldn't they find anyone at MIT that could do a better job of Photoshopping those domes into the pic?

Where's your sense of adventure? No grumpy old farts will be allowed on Mars anyway  

I've no intent on going to Mars. Besides, I imagine we will all be long gone before they start putting people there.

Anyone thinking growing redwoods in the dome was a good idea was casting a pc sympathy vote. It was a terrible idea. It would take a few hundred years for them to grow and needles are not goes for absorbing CO2 and expelling O2. If the really want a plant that is plausible then they should have said hemp. It grows fast, can be used for many products (especially food) and is the best plant for producing O2 AND enriches the soil where others deplete it.

I don't think they're talking about real trees... I assumed the 'trees' were artificial and part of the design

Aren't the trees for producing O2? Where are they getting O2 if not from the trees?

They make it from Martian water and ice

Quote:On Mars, our city will physically and functionally mimic a forest, using local Martian resources such as ice and water, regolith (or soil), and sun to support life.

Every tree habitat in Redwood Forest will collect energy from the sun and use it to process and transport the water throughout the tree


Solar panels produce energy to split the stored water for the production of rocket fuel, oxygen, and for charging hydrogen fuel cells, which are necessary to power long-range vehicles as well as provide backup energy storage in case of dust storms.

http://news.mit.edu/2017/mars-city-livin...lanet-1031