Mars has been the next frontier, and while we work on rockets that will get us to our red neighbor, scientists are thinking hard about how to build a sustainable colony on Mars. What would we need to bring to survive? That’s the question NASA is asking the public through a new competition. \
NASA lists “shelter, food, water, breathable air, communication, exercise, social interactions and medicine” as potential topics areas to tackle. And since there’s only so much space and weight on the rockets that will propel humans to Mars, NASA is pushing for innovative solutions—not just solutions available today, but solutions from years in the future when those Mars rockets will be ready.
Though a manned Mars mission is decades away, NASA is making significant progress toward that goal now. Mars rovers and orbiting probes are feeding information back every day, and NASA’s Orion astronaut capsule is inching closer to space readiness.
Just as turning to the international community makes the journey to Mars an international mission, NASA turning to the public for Mars colony ideas makes the project a collective effort
For more details visit: http://settlement.arc.nasa.gov/Contest/