Building habitats on Mars without bringing every little thing

If mankind is truly going to become a multiplanetary species as a lot of us aspire to, conventional ideas involve hauling tons of supplies from Earth to the Red Planet to establish civilization there.  It is, without a doubt, a rough mission that requires exceptional people to go with all the risks that come with the mission.  Comparatively, migrating between places on Earth is nothing.  The air is safe to breathe, or more correctly, if you know how to treat the air in one hemisphere, you know how to treat it everywhere else on Earth.   On Mars you don't even have air.  Then there's building shelter.  There are no trees on Mars so something like a log cabin isn't possible.  Can something like concrete be made there, and buildings made from that?  Bricks of some sort?

So what if early astronauts, early settlers, could bring something that's light but could create materials that can be built into useful things?  

In a potential milestone for space exploration, scientists have successfully grown algae under simulated Martian conditions using equipment made from biodegradable bioplastics — a step that could bring long-term space colonization closer to reality.

As interest in human missions to Mars grows, scientists are focusing on how to sustain life in space without constant resupply from Earth. A team of researchers led by Robin Wordsworth of Harvard University demonstrated that green algae can not only survive but thrive inside bioplastic chambers designed to mimic the extreme environment of the Red Planet. 

The idea is using bioplastics to grow more bioplastics that can be used to make useful things.  Wordsworth puts it like this: "If you have a habitat that is composed of bioplastic, and it grows algae within it, that algae could produce more bioplastic.  So you start to have a closed-loop system that can sustain itself and even grow through time."  Mars missions don't need to transport supplies, the algae grows from CO2 in the Martian atmosphere.  

In laboratory tests, Wordsworth and his team cultivated a common type of green algae called Dunaliella tertiolecta inside a 3D-printed chamber made from polylactic acid, which is a biodegradable plastic derived from natural sources. The chamber was engineered to replicate the thin, carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere of Mars, which has a surface pressure less than 1% that of Earth.

Despite these extreme conditions, the algae were able to perform photosynthesis, according to the statement.

Close-up of bioplastic habitat with algae growth. (Image credit: Harvard University)

The latest proof of concept experiment builds on earlier work by Wordsworth’s team, which showed that silica aerogels could replicate Earth’s greenhouse effect to support life in cold, low-pressure environments. By combining algae chambers for bioplastic production with aerogels for heat and pressure regulation, the researchers say they are making real progress toward self-sustaining space habitats.

The answer to not having forests to harvest wood from is to make your own wood from cellulose harvested from little Erlenmeyer flasks like this one.