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Still, settler Puritans: Abram Van Engen, ‘Resisting Puritans’, American Literary History, 37, 1, 2025, pp. 94-109 »

The gravity of outer space settler colonialism: Werner Grandl, ‘A Mars habitat inside the Martian moon Deimos: the ultimate human outpost with 1 g simulated gravity’, Space Renaissance International, 2025

11Mar25

Abstract: One of the most fascinating goals in human spaceflight is to land humans on Mars and to establish an initial human outpost on the red planet. Visionaries like Elon Musk propose to build human settlements for thousands of people on Mars and even to “terraform” the planet into an Earth-like “Planet B”. But there are some serious doubts about these projects. Mars has just about 38% of Earth´s gravity, which can cause in the long run danger to human health, especially critical bone and muscle loss. Because of the thin atmosphere the human body is exposed to cosmic rays and micrometeorites. But there is an alternative solution for a safe Martian settlement: building habitats inside the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos. The two moons are supposed to be former asteroids which have been captured by Mars long ago. We choose Deimos, the smaller one, to demonstrate the construction of a rotating space habitat with 1 g simulated gravity. Initially a space station is docked to Deimos´ surface, which will be enlarged step by step becoming a mining and industrial facility. After digging a central tunnel into Deimos big caves are excavated and the ore is processed into building material. Water and oxygen can be extracted from the polar ice of Mars. Finally one or more rotating human habitats can be built inside the caves, providing a safe environment for some hundreds or even thousands of settlers, who will exploit the natural resources of Mars and even the asteroid belt for the future benefit of mankind.


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