A Martian colony can live with up to 22 people with certain traits

Strange but true

by Alex Mitchell

August 23, 2023 | 7:35 p.m

Who are the best Martian stars?

Computational sociologists at George Mason University have published new research that reveals the ideal species of Earthlings to populate Mars when they hope to one day colonize the red planet.

Creating a human settlement on Mars is a very complex engineering problem. the researchers wrote.

“The inhospitable nature of the Martian environment requires that any habitat be largely self-sufficient.”

The paper, which was published this month on the arXiv preprint server, suggests that the optimal number of people living in such a hostile environment would initially be 22.

“Besides the technical and engineering challenges, future colonists will also face psychological and human behavioral challenges,” the scientists noted.

To “better understand” how this works, they created “agent-based modeling” simulations to ensure the Martian astronauts work in harmony.

They ran five simulations, each representing 28 Earth years of the colony’s life.

They applied what they call four basic personality types to the settlers within the simulations: neurotic, reactive, sociable, and agreeable.

“We also found that the agreeable personality type is the type most likely to survive,” they wrote. “We find, contrary to other literature, that the minimum number of people of all personality types who can lead to a sustainable settlement is dozens, not hundreds.”

In other words, less is more here.

The 22 Mars Settlers must function as “high-performance teams” that can thrive “in isolated, high-pressure environments.”

These men and women in space will be ideally attuned to claustrophobic and often chaotic environments, including: submarines, Arctic explorations, being aboard the International Space Station, and even combat scenarios.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk may be reeling after a turbulent few months that Company X, formerly known as Twitter, has had.

The results arrive ahead of the highly anticipated August 28 season finale of “Stars on Mars” – FOX’s space survivor reality show that pits celebrities including Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch against a simulation of the planet’s conditions.

Also this summer, NASA revealed that it had discovered organic molecules that may be the “building blocks of life” on Mars.