Cities
written by Alex Moore on December 24, 2000


We are told that the dome can withstand dust-storms of up to 600 kilometers an hour, but looking up above the tall city towers I'm skeptical. The air outside is thin and toxic, and one small rip in the thin, clear dome would leave the city and its 200,000 inhabitants to suffocate within seconds. Like most of the modern cities on Mars, this new dome is made of a plastic-like material that is weaker than aluminum foil. However, the guide tells us that since the atmospheric pressure is so much higher inside the city than outside, the dome is effectively stronger than any material known to man.

A city on Mars like the one described above, might be closer on the horizon than anyone could have guessed. "Historically, it's been part of science fiction," said Dr. Christopher McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames. "We're trying to make it science."

Around two years after Alpha, the first settlement on Mars, is founded, it is estimated work will begin on the first city. In the beginning, the first city on Mars, which we shall call Beta, will serve as nothing but a science-center/small habitat. This is very important since only scientists will be sent to the Red Planet for the first few years. They will serve as the first "colonists" for the Martian outpost, and will naturally need more room to expand their research.

Many authors have implied building Beta entirely underground to reduce radiation. Kim Stanley Robinson suggests building the city similar to a bunker, built three stories underground with a central core to serve as the city common. This "bomb-shelter" city should be large enough to comfortably contain about 200 people, or the population of Mars at that time. On one side would be several laboratories for indoor scientific experiments and research. The other would contain residential habitats with large portions to provide privacy and to outline the all-important border between work and personal time. Also, this side could house recreational facilities and areas for private research.

An inner dome will lay where the asteroid belt orbits the sun. Similar to a medieval castle with an inner-wall and thick outer-wall, this dome will serve to protect the residents from an air-pressure burst in the major dome.

This of course must mean that the city has a finite maximum population. This population depends largely on the size of each orbit, the area each person travels within the city and how congested each sector may be, and the size of the "Sun."

Outside of the "asteroid belt," the industrial sectors will be scattered loosely between the two domes. Since industries on Mars will generally be built away from cities to specialize in the harvesting of minerals and other resources, this area will consist mainly of the city's nuclear power plant, manufacturing center, and utility complex.

Developing efficient transportation methods are as important as designing the city itself. LaRouche suggests splitting the planetary orbits into 16 sections divided by avenues radiating from the "Sun." The avenues would be labeled North, North by Northeast, Northeast, and so on with each spoke containing a high-speed magnetic levitation train. The train could transport both human cargo and freight at magnificent speeds. The North, East, South, and West lines would travel outside of the city boundaries as well connect with neighboring cities or join the vast trans-global railway.

Cities are like living things that will remain for all future generations. On Mars it will be no different. As LaRouche writes, "We can do much better today [designing a city] than any preceding generation of mankind, for whose design we will be thanked by its inhabitants a thousand years into the future."


Works Cited:

1) http://www.ketzer.com/stuff/stuff.html -- http://www.dragonflydream.com/PuebloIndians.html
2) http://www.dragonflydream.com/PuebloIndians.html -- http://holysmoke.org/wb/wb0011.htm
3) http://holysmoke.org/wb/wb0011.htm -- Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
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