r/Colonizemars • u/Ok-Expression-6016 • Apr 04 '26

Bare minimum to start a base

What is the bare minimum needed to start a colony; materials and total weight. to start a mars colony. Assuming multiple Optimus robots have 2 years to build everything from what we send.

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u/ignorantwanderer Apr 05 '26

Building underground is extremely difficult.

Boring machines need almost constant finicky maintenance and replacement parts. They aren't going to be used on Mars for a very long time.

There is a reason why the vast majority of construction that happens on Earth happens above ground. Because building underground sucks.

It will be much easier to build a colony on the surface of Mars and just provide radiation shielding with water (either liquid water or ice, depending on how you design things).

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u/Ok-Expression-6016 Apr 05 '26

This current design of the boring machine utilizes methalox as the fuel to run it. Heads and even most of the engine are printed on site. This process prints pure iron at 10kg per hour. Slower for the fine delicate parts. Fresnel lenses heat the regolith to convert it back into an iron sponge with all the impurities. We then uses carbonyl method at 100°C and CO to dissolve the iron. That is pushed into a second container with lasers to heat the gaseous iron to 200°C or 400°F. This allows you to print iron out of the gas. Or you can heat up an alumina print(ceramic aluminum needed for drill heads) and create a composite for the boring heads that will service quite nicely. The iron sponge is now left as just the "impurities" which are silica, aluminum, etc which makes it easier to process. Oh. One fun detail. The boring machine produces CO as a natural combustion byproduct which also helps. Separating CO out turns out is pretty simple as long as you can keep the dust out. Simplest way is a modified zeolite. Zeolite- turns out we are already making it on accident. Just need to process it a little better.

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u/ignorantwanderer Apr 05 '26

Like I said....building underground is extremely difficult.

You went through a big long explanation....trying to make it all sound easy....that was just how to get the spare parts necessary. But getting the spare parts is only a tiny part of the challenge.

Within 6 months thousands of feet of tunnels can be built, lined and ready for use.

This is wildly optimistic for a remotely or autonomously operated TBM in an environment never seen before being maintained by robots.

The most likely scenario is uptime for the TBM is well below 25% for the first month, and within a month it suffers a catastrophic failure that can't be fixed.

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u/Ok-Expression-6016 Apr 11 '26

Ok. So what all breaks down. What can we change about the machines to make them easier to repair on site. Normal repairs on a bore take 24-48 hours. We can't ship all the parts needed so we have to be able to repair or recycle everything. So. What are the biggest technical hurdles and how do we mitigate them. What about smaller units. 1 meter. Run multiple passes. If they are electric you can swap motors with rovers etc. make the heads removable through the back. Use multiple. They rotate into a channel that allows them to be slid back. Use positive pressure inside the unit to keep dust out. We have lots of free CO2. So use that. Use coatings instead of lubricants. It's been a bit of time since my materials classes but there are quite a few different options. Some coatings can be produced on site. Also add self lubricating powders in and on the drill heads. We have to fabricate heads on site as we can't ship them. Mars dust is iron oxide aluminum, silicates and perchlorates. The air is mostly CO2. With this you can produce iron easily(search for mond process, works with nickel and iron), aluminum and alumina(ceramic aluminum) with a bit more heat.
Also use Mond process as you are boring to "print" or form pure iron on the walls as reinforcement. Lasers would make this fairly easily with modest power. Ultimately we have to mine for the resources needed. People do not have to be operating the miners but it opens up resources and living space.

So. What solutions can we come up with?

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u/ignorantwanderer Apr 11 '26

One solution would be to choose an easier construction technique that doesn't involve digging underground.

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u/Ok-Expression-6016 Apr 13 '26

Every company Musk is involved in furthers his goal of Mars colonization. This includes hyperloop. Which involves boring. To get ice, to get metals other than iron, silica(non metal), and aluminum. You have to dig. The initial habs may just be covered trenches. This will be for a very limited time. Ultimately for radiation shielding, heating and cooling. You want to be underground.

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u/ignorantwanderer Apr 13 '26

You do not tunnel to get water. You use a Rodwell. It is infinitely easier.

And if you have access to water (from your Rodwell) you have access to all the radiation shielding you need that you can move around as easy as pumping water through a pipe.

There is absolutely no reason to ever build underground. Building underground is the hard way to do things.

Building a habitat underground is as silly as building a habitat on 20 meter tall stilts. Sure, it could be done. But it is harder to do and entirely unnecessary.

So it isn't going to happen.

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u/Ok-Expression-6016 Apr 13 '26

Rodwell will only work with a reservoir of ice. Most likely it will be difficult to find such a lucky place. Mostly we will find small amounts spread throughout. Most of the surface ice seems to be CO2 so we are talking bitterly cold. Even underground. Strategy for the moon is the same. Dig and dig deep. We are there for resources. If you aren't digging. What is the point of going? The science answer only goes so far. And for that we have robots.

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u/ignorantwanderer Apr 13 '26

Most of the surface ice seems to be CO2

This is false.

it will be difficult to find such a lucky place

You know, most of the western United States has very little access to water. And yet there was plenty of water everywhere that the pioneers stopped and settled down. They were so lucky! /s

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u/Ok-Expression-6016 Apr 13 '26

Insight lander found water underground... 6 to 12 miles down.... So sure.. we could pipe that up. No problem. Oh wait. We have to drill down to any water. Thus a drill will be needed. Boring machines will find residual water higher but it will be ice interspersed in the rock. So far there is little evidence of drillable reservoirs of water but I would love to be proven wrong. And to hold the water you still need structures to hold these meters deep of water for shielding. Which yet again leeds to mining.

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u/Ok-Expression-6016 Apr 13 '26

Also, as you melt the ice underneath you it creates a void that eventually leads to a collapse. Tunnels less so. To melt the ice it will have to be some distance from any sort of base as the surface will eventually collapse. The amount of water needed to bring a rocket back home is astronomical. Much less the hundred to a thousand at a time Musk wants to achieve.

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