We would only need 110 people to start a new civilisation on Mars, scientists say

Sick of the goings on down here on Earth? You’re not alone.

Good news though; it might not take as many people to start a brand new life in outer space as previously thought.

Scientists have crunched the numbers and discovered that just 110 people are required to build a self-sustaining colony on Mars.

A review by Professor Jean-Marc Salotti at the Bordeaux Institut Nationwide Polytechnique in France used a mathematical model to calculate just how many people would be needed in order to create a society that could continue to produce the resources and commodities necessary to live.

It turned out, the answer was: 110.

As Salotti explains, the model is based on a calculation involving available time of settlers and the time needed to set up necessary structures necessary for survival:

[The findings are] based mostly on the comparison among the time necessities to put into action all sorts of human routines for lengthy phrase survival and the readily available time of the settlers.

An essential parameter of the model is known as the sharing issue, which permits some reduction of time necessities per person if, for instance, the action worries the development of an object that can be shared by various persons.

For survival on Mars, some assumptions are manufactured for the organisation of the settlers and engineering concerns. 

In Salotti’s projection, settlers would live in an oxygen-filled glass dome and focus on agricultural projects that would help them sustain the community.

He says they would also have to use “natural resources”.

Alien water, anyone?

The study also takes into account extreme situations, such as being cut off from Earth in the event of war, or if the colony decided to become an independent alien republic.

Revolutionary.

And with Elon Musk desperate to begin colonizing the red planet, this future might not be too far off.

You’d have to think carefully about your 109 colleagues though.

Who wants to get trapped in a dome with Elon Musk for the foreseeable future?

Suddenly Earth looks a lot more inviting…