Shelter on Mars

We are planning a minimal pallet rack based shelter for people coming to Mars College this year without their own mobile living situation. Here is my concept for what this structure may look like.

Each of the rooms is 12’ x 8’ with about 7’ headroom. Exterior walls are ply. Interior walls either r-tech foam panels or fabric. The windows are a bit tbd. I bought a bunch of very thin acrylic sheets I’m hoping we can make into window panels. We can definitely do shutters. Thankfully it does not rain much, but last year we had a few light showers. I had thought we would put tents in the rooms to deal with water proofing, but that seems extreme. I’m hoping roofing tape on the roof covering the seems between the plywood sheets will be sufficient.

There is plenty of room for people to personalize their space in many ways, and some modifications to respond to the elements may be necessary. My hope is this is a good starting point.

Some people may wish to build their own shelters to play with their own ideas of off-grid architecture or to have a more isolated living space. I’ll provide some pallet racks and plywood for people who want to do this, tho people may need to buy their own lumber depending on size and if their design requires cuts.