Elon Musk's first human colony on Mars would have to survive on a vegan diet: Report

A new paper on Elon Musk's idea of making humans a multi-planetary species has suggested that the first colony on Mars would have to live on a plant-based diet and without any meat. The theory was shared by John K. Strickland, from the National Space Society, in his new essay for Space Review, wherein he suggested that a less than one square mile farm would be sufficient to support a colony of 5,000 people, in four levels, on a vegetarian diet. Recently, SpaceX released a video depicting the blueprint of the first colony on Mars which features humans using glass domes for their habitat as well as growing crops for survival.

What would it take to build the first colony on Mars?

Strickland, in his essay, wrote that in order to settle the first colony on Mars, SpaceX's next-generation rocket Starship would have to make 5,000 trips to Mars with cargo weighing 200 tons in each trip. He said that this payload would require an area of 2,000 sq. ft to begin work on food production along with 100 kW of power per person. Adding all that up, an area of 215,000 sq. ft for crop cultivation would be required along with 10 megawatts of power for just a crew of 100 people. He pointed out that these calculations lead up to a required area of a million sq. ft spread over four equal floors for the first colony.

"The power would need to come from fission, fusion, or space solar arrays, as there are no fossil fuels on Mars, and erecting huge ground solar arrays in Mars weaker sunlight would be very difficult", Strickland wrote in his essay as per Daily Mail. It is worth mentioning that the astronauts would have to use the hydroponic method for cultivation, which is a technique of plant growth without the use of soil. 

On multiple occasions, Musk has reiterated his stance on landing humans on Mars and recently shared his hopes to deploy astronauts on the red planet in 10 years from now. In an interview with MIT scientist Lex Fridman, Musk had said, "We don't just wanna have with Mars, flags and footprints, and then not come back for a half-century like we did with the Moon". 

Image: AP