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Inside Mars habitat dome looking out over the orchard towards the aquaculture pond on a less windy day. The high speed, seasonal dust filled winds cover the complete globe of the planet. Water maybe drilled for, as on Earth. It's speculated that water is no longer on the surface of Mars because the water that was there was broken down into it's constituent parts Hydrogen and Oxygen from exposure to the sun's rays. With the Hydrogen separated from the Oxygen and because of the low gravity and no magnetic field of Mars the Hydrogen 'leaked' away, out into space. Image of aquaculture pond lit internally. The balance of harmful and supportive microorganisms will be one of the researchers most important concerns in this closed Biosphere system. The planet will probably never be terraformed because the lack of a magnetic field. Ground transport looking over dome complex on a clear day. On Mars extracting oxygen from the atmosphere will be easy enough for the nano pumps in the dome fabric; the then resulting carbon can be used to create and maintain the dome itself. In other environments like the Moon oxygen can be gotten from the rock or lunar dust again using nano or molecular pumps. All images created by Mark Somers using the Pov Ray Ray Tracing program. |