MMM Classics Year 10: MMM #s 91-100 - Moon Society

shorelines, wave-sculpted dry lake and sea shore bottoms,
deltas and estuaries, flood-carved channels. From such
evidence, it has become clear that Mars even sported a
respectable northern hemisphere ocean that once covered more
than a third of the planet to respectable depths. Not all of this
water could have evaporated or sublimated into space. Archaic
water-saturated lake and sea bottoms should have retained their
water content as the climate got colder and the ground froze to
deeper and deeper levels.
Where on Mars is permafrost most likely to be found?
The likeliest areas of significant permafrost deposits
are the ancient northern ocean bottomlands, deep major impact
basin bottoms like Hellas and Argyre, and canyon bottoms
(especially the outflow areas like the Ares Valley landing site
for the Mars Pathfinder lander. Unfortunately, this lander is
not providentially equipped to test for permafrost underfoot. It
is typical that the kind of knowledge most needed to assess
settlement feasibilities is low on the priority list of planetary
scientists interested primarily in scratching the itches of their
own narrow scientific curiosities. Both Vikings likewise landed
in areas in which we might expect to find substantial
permafrost deposits, a condition that went untested.)
Permafrost could have formed in adjacent areas not
covered by standing water through the lateral spread of ground
water, and in still other areas if subject to seasonal rainfall.
What, if any, would be the significance of permafrost
on Mars for future settlement / development?
On Earth, (a) permafrost renders the land agriculturally
unproductive, although tundra lichens and other vegetation
is sufficient to maintain a large wildlife population of caribou,
rabbits, and other hardy arctic fauna. (b) Buildings must be set
on bedrock or thermally isolated from the ground, commonly
by use of stilts made of materials with low heat conductivity,
along with effective use of insulation to prevent heat radiating
from the bottom of the building to the frozen soil below. The
stilts should raise the underside of the building high enough
above the ground to allow free air and wind circulation. (c)
Road building creates special problems: special measures had
to be taken during the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
On Mars, seasonal thaws may not be a problem at
first, but may become less and less rare as human activities,
planned and unplanned, lead to a significant warming of the
Martian climate. (a) For this reason, outposts in permafrost
areas will be especially challenging to build and maintain
Settlement may be limited to areas of patchy permafrost, with
construction held to frigid but not ice-saturated soil and rock
areas. (b) Only those areas where the ‘topsoil’ is ‘active’, i.e.
thawing seasonally, will be colonizable by bioengineered
Mars-hardy plant varieties developed through an aggressive
redhousing program.
Mars outpost on stilts- insulated
Mars subsurface outpost - insulated
Mars subsurface outpost in “patchy” area
How can we tap permafrost water assets?
(1) We could strip mine the permafrost layers and
then run them through melting ovens on conveyors,
redepositing the dried soil back in place, all in one operation.
This could be more mechanically difficult than it sounds, with
lots of equipment breakdowns, given the hardness of the
soil/ice aggregate.
(2) We could heat the deposits in situ (in place) and
then pumping out the freed and liquefied water if excess waste
heat at a high enough temperature is available. This requires
Moon Miners’ Manifesto Classics - Year 10 - Republished January 2006 - Page 30