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Id Software’s forthcoming
DOOM
is, of course, set on Mars.
Why are humans so obsessed with the Red Planet? Is it
possible to survive up there?What sort of weapons could
you use on it? President of the Mars Society Australia,
Jonathan Clarke, gives
STACK
all the answers.
Y
ou’re not bound for the Union Research
Corporation’s research facility on Mars
in
DOOM
, releasing this month, to
cultivate a field of King Edwards under atypical
growing conditions. No, there are demons to
destroy, and you, Marine, will be doing just that.
But just exactly what would life on Mars
be like and what are the chances of surviving
on the Red Planet? And why are Earthlings so
fascinated by it?
“I think the reason for the fascination is
different for everybody,” explains Jonathan
Clarke. “For some people, it’s the fact that it
is the next destination we can reach after the
Moon. We can go to Mars and live on Mars
with either technology we already have or can
easily develop, whereas going further afield
to the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, Mercury,
Venus, requires technology that is much
harder to develop.
“For centuries, Mars has been the only planet
whose surface we can see through a telescope.
We can see light and dark markings. It’s got
clouds, weather, seasons, polar caps that come
and go, and so people can imagine it as a place
that’s a bit like Earth. A real place that you can
walk on the surface. It might be inhabited;
it might be a threat to Earth. We might be
invading Martians one day. People have been
fascinated by these reasons.”
Clarke reveals that “going to Mars is
controlled very much by the position of the
planets”.
“Really, you can only go to Mars once
every 26 months. How long it takes to get
there and how long before we get back
depends on how much power you have in
your propulsion system. Different types of
rockets can get you to Mars between six
and four months at a minimum, up to eight
months maximum.”
So, what about the reality of existing on
Mars for a long period of time? What support
systems would be necessary?
“The requirements for living in space,
and you can consider Mars living in space,
are first of all power,” Clarke says. “Without
power, you die. We need oxygen to breathe.
We need water to drink, food to eat.
“Power we can supply by solar panels.
On the surface of Mars, you could unroll a
giant solar panel just like you would a carpet.
[Oxygen] on Mars, you could manufacture
it from the atmosphere, which is carbon
dioxide. We could use simple, old-fashioned
chemistry to extract the oxygen from that.
“We know there is ice in the surface
of Mars, so we can process that ice and
process those minerals to extract water.
We don’t need a lot of food. We only need
about half a kilogram of food per day if it’s
dry. For the first few expeditions, we would
use either freeze-dried food or food that has
been preserved via radiation, or vacuum
sealing, or sealed containers. Eventually,
perhaps, we’d be able to grow food on Mars
either hydroponically or finding suitable soil –
maybe we’ll even live on potatoes!”
Finally, we ask Jonathan Clarke what
weapons that are currently available could
be effectively used on Mars, should we
encounter any hostile Martians.
“All the weapons we currently have would
work on Mars. The physics of projectiles
and sharp-edged weapons are going to be
much the same. The lower gravity and the
lower air resistance will have some effect:
ranges of projectile weapons will be greater,
the vulnerability of infrastructure on Mars,
particularly pressurised infrastructure, might
mean that people have to design weapons to
minimise collateral damage.
“The hostility of the Martian environment
may mean a lot of external combat, if it were
to even happen, like we have done through
drones or robotic weapons, rather than
people in space armour. But most weapons
will unfortunately work on Mars, just like they
do on Earth.”
All the weapons we
currently have would
work on Mars.
17
FEATURE
GAMES
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