Sailor

• Rather than the waning of interest in space that followed the Moon landings in our reality, over the four seasons of the show to date, the race has continued towards lunar and then Martian settlement.
• Dubbed “Happy Valley”, the Martian city features an array of interconnected modules.

With its Artemis programme, Nasa plans to have humans living outside Earth’s orbit. This would including a lunar base camp, as well as a space station that circles the Moon, in the view of ultimately sending people to Mars. Quite in what structures such Martian explorers would live has long had people dreaming – and scientists experimenting.

Life on Mars?

• Written between 1912 and 1946, these tell the story of a 19th-century US veteran transported to Mars, and were brought to life in the 2012 action film, John Carter.
• One of the earliest stories to seriously consider the scientifically understood conditions on Mars, and the life that might result from it, was Stanley Weinbaum’s 1934 novella, A Martian Odyssey.
• In keeping with telescopic observations of the planet’s cold, thin air and spectra indicating a lack of both water and vegetation, this was a Mars devoid of cityscapes, but not of life.

Going underground

• The cities envisaged by mid-century sci-fi writers were encased in vast protective domes.
• These could contain an Earth-like environment and allow humans to breathe and move freely without protective equipment.

• Research suggests, however, that as long-term habitation, a domed environment would have significant flaws.
• Since the 1960s, scientific understanding of the impact of radiation on humans and their offspring has advanced.
• Instead, many researchers now consider underground or cave settlements as sites for human settlement on Mars.
• Contrary to the series though, underground levels might well be sought after, by real-world Martian residents, for the increased protection they provide.

Elizabeth Stanway receives funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council for her astrophysics research