Nuwa Martian city: Architectural studio releases first-ever urban plan for Red planet

An award-winning architectural studio Abiboo has released plans for the urban settlement on the neighbouring planet Mars that could inhabit 250,000 Earthly populations by 2100. The sustainable Red planet cliff city will be named Nüwa and will have residential units of 25 to 35 square meters each, with all Earth-like facilities, abundant water access, and food support outlets at Tempe Mensa. “A steep terrain offers the opportunity to create a vertical city inserted into the rock, protected from radiation and meteorites while having access to indirect sunlight,” the studio explained about the futuristic project on a dedicated website.

According to the studio that redefines urban environments and innovates architectural creativity, the Martian cliff city will be established in at least 5 locations to “improve resilience, long term easy access to resources, and to add mobility options to the citizens of Mars.” For instance, Abalos City will be located in the North Pole to leverage access to ice, while Marineris City will be constructed in the most extensive canyon of the solar system. All five cities on Mars will be highly-scalable and flexible, such that later, they could be implemented in many other areas of the Red planet. “Sustainability, but especially self-sustainable development is at the core of the Nüwa design,” the architectural studio said. 

The initial phase of building these cities will involve high resource dependence and capital investments from the Earth. The studio plans to build a system that will be able to sustain growth in a way that it can start accumulating its own local resources with time. The main parameter for bringing alive the idea of a Martian city into a reality would be ‘Macro-building’, which Abiboo explained, involves excavation of the rocks in the cliffs.  The process will need well-equipped construction teams that will implement tunneling, and construct modular residential and professional structures linked by a 3D network of tunnels. 

“By giving this standardization, the design ensures scalability and reduces complexity, costs, and construction schedules,” Abiboo said. 

Green domes, sky lobbies

The other fundamental process of building Nuwa is landscaping that will involve art and recreational domes that will facilitate sports and physical activities, and Green Domes that act as parks, and include experimental vegetation in the Martian atmosphere. The high-speed elevator systems will connect the macro buildings with sky lobbies like the skyscrapers on Earth. There will be a system of light trains and buses in the longitudinal direction of the Martian cliffs. Mars city will also have manufacturing, food production, and energy generation facilities operated by AI robots. 

“From Earth to Mars, a regular shuttle service should be able to function, with launch windows opening approximately every 26 months and lasting between one and three months,” the architectural studio said. It added, that the one-way ticket will cost $300,000 (approximately Rs 2 crore). 

[Image Credit: Instagram/Abiboo studio]

[Image Credit: Instagram/Abiboo studio]