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Resources

Alex Reeser edited this page Sep 2, 2017 · 14 revisions

What Homesteaders Require

  1. Oxygen
  2. Carbon Dioxide Scrubbing
  3. Water
  4. Food
  5. Shelter

In-Situ Resources

What Mars Has

  1. Carbon Dioxide (in atmosphere, in large quantities, and dry ice at the poles)
  2. Silicon and Oxygen (on surface, in silicate minerals, with varying abundance)
  3. Iron (on surface, and in high purity meteorites)
  4. Water Ice (at poles and in deposits as permafrost)
  5. Aluminum (on surface, as oxides)
  6. Magnesium (on surface, as oxides)
  7. Calcium (on surface, as oxides)
  8. Sulfur (on surface, as oxides)
  9. Nickel (on surface, and in meteorites)
  10. Salt Flats (on surface, incredibly regional)
  11. Perchlorate (on surface, .6% of soil)

Resource Extraction

Italicized marks a resource that can be taken from the environment with minimal processing.

Sabatier Reaction

In Out
Carbon Dioxide Water
Hydrogen Methane

Electrolysis of Water

In Out
Water Oxygen
Hydrogen

Methane Reforming

In Out
Methane Hydrogen
Water Carbon Monoxide

Carbon Monoxide Reforming

In Out
Carbon Monoxide Carbon Dioxide
Water Hydrogen

Aluminum Smelting

In Out
Alumina Aluminum
Carbon Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide

Fuel Cell

In Out
Hydrogen Water
Oxygen Power

Resource Refinement

Methane Furnace

In Out
Metal Ore Molten Metal
Methane Water
O2 CO2
Power

Hydrogen Furnace

In Out
Metal Ore Molten Metal
Hydrogen Water
CO2
Power

Electric Arc Furnace

In Out
Molten Iron Molten Steel
Magnesite CO2
Oxygen
Power

Carbonyl Furnace

In Out
Molten Iron Molten Steel
Hydrogen Water
CO CO
Power

Hot Rolling Mill / Forge

In Out
Molten Metal Components
Water?
Power

Cold Rolling Mill / Stamp / Press / CNC

In Out
Metal Components
Power

Atomizer

In Out
Molten Metal Metal Powder
Water
Oxygen
Power

3D Printer

In Out
Metal Powder Components
Power

Research

Methods of Steelmaking on Mars

Continuous Casting

Rolling

Forging

CNC

Methods for Creating Metal Powders on Earth

Direct Metal Laser Sintering

Comparison of 3D metal printing power requirements

Silicon Wafer pulling

Implications to Gameplay Design

Hydrogen needs to be cheap