--- title: "This Group is Collecting Designs For a Martian City" description: "The Mars Society, a space advocacy group, is holding a contest for the best designs of a Martian city state that can accommodate one million inhabitants." date: "2020-02-12" modified: "2020-02-12" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/collecting-designs-martian-city" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "elon musk" - "mars" - "martian city" - "the digest" --- # This Group is Collecting Designs For a Martian City ![The Mars Society, a space advocacy group, is holding a contest for the best designs of a Martian city state that can accommodate one million inhabitants.]() *\Image: InnSpace\* ## Martian City State The Mars Society, a space advocacy group dedicated to the exploration and settlement of Mars, is [holding]() an international contest for the best design of a Martian city state that can accommodate a million inhabitants. The winner will be awarded with $10,000. The Society held a [similar contest]() last year asking participants to design a Mars colony for just 1,000 people. An MIT team won with their "Star City" design, a colony split into five starting villages, each representing a continent on Earth. https://youtu.be/nvCHKhntD-c ## Mars Plan The news comes after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [tweeted]() earlier this year that [1,000 massive Starship rockets]() could eventually send "maybe around 100k people per Earth-Mars orbital sync," resulting in a million-strong Martian city [by the year 2050](). This Mars Society contest has guidelines to make sure the design is realistic. First and foremost, the Martian city state has to be as self-sustaining as possible without having to rely too much on imports from Earth. ## Self-Sustaining That means the city state will need to "produce all the food, clothing, shelter, power, common consumer products, vehicles and machines for a population of 1,000,000," according to an [official announcement](), with only needing to import key components from Earth including "advanced electronics." The Society is asking participating teams to take into consideration technologies including advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and 3D-printing as well to make best use of resources already present on the Red Planet. Teams have until June 30, 2020 to submit a 20 page proposal. **READ MORE:** [Mars City State Design Competition Announced]() \[The Mars Society\] **More on Martian colonies:** *[Elon Musk Says He’ll Put A Million People on Mars By 2050]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()