Maja Staniewska from the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology was among the winners of the international competition for the concept of a base on Mars, organised by Mars Society South Asia as part of the International Rover Challenge series of competitions.

The Mars Craft Nova team, in which our student is active, won first place (ex aequo) in the competition, beating dozens of other proposals from all over the world.

Poles triumph on Mars

The participants were to design a comprehensive plan for the establishment and expansion of the first Martian base. According to the competition requirements, a concept had to be developed to enable a permanent human presence on Mars – from the first habitat capable of accommodating 4–8 astronauts in 2040, to the gradual expansion of the base by 2060, when it could function as a settlement for around 50 people.

The teams had to choose the location of the Mars base themselves, propose a schedule of activities and the technologies necessary to establish and develop the settlement. The organisers from Mars Society South Asia emphasised that it is crucial to present a clear, feasible strategy for achieving the colony's self-sufficiency – so that the Martian base can produce its own food, water and energy to the maximum extent possible and minimise the need for supplies from Earth.

The best projects were selected during the final of the competition. The first prize was won by the Polish team Mars Craft Nova, together with the Iuvaan team from the Indian Institute of Technology in Gauhati. The winning group consisted of: Alan Żmuda (astrophysicist and biologist), Magdalena Pawelec (industrial designer), Magdalena Łabowska, PhD (researcher at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology), Michał Ziemiński (design engineer) and Maja Staniewska (mechanical engineering specialist).

The winning project involves the creation of a base in the Arcadia Planitia region - a vast, flat plain on Mars, located northwest of the Tharsis area. According to the authors, this place is conducive to the construction of a permanent habitat, among other things, due to the favourable terrain and rich deposits of water ice (i.e. access to water) in the ground.

From a mentoring programme to a mission

Even before joining the Mars Craft Nova team, Maja Staniewska developed her interest in space technologies through participation in educational programmes and social activities. A breakthrough moment came when she took part in the HerStory mentoring programme, which supports the careers of young women in STEM. The HerStory project, run by the Girls Future Ready foundation, offers participants the opportunity to work on ambitious tasks under the guidance of experienced mentors. It was within the framework of this programme that the student established a collaboration with Justyna Pelc, a well-known promoter of Mars exploration and leader of the Innspace team.

– I found out about the competition from my mentor, Justyna Pelc, whom I met through the HerStory mentoring programme, which ended with a stratospheric mission – says Maja Staniewska. – Justyna invited me to participate and put me in touch with Alan Żmuda, who decided to accept me into the team after a short interview.

The competition consisted of two stages. The first stage involved the preparation of a 25-page report presenting the concept of a self-sustaining base on Mars in 2040 and its expansion in 2060. The second stage was a presentation of the project to the jury, to which the eight best teams were invited.

– Participating in such an advanced inter-university project was an invaluable lesson in cooperation and creative problem solving for me – emphasises Maja Staniewska. – Thanks to the HerStory programme and advice from experienced experts, I was able to take on the challenge of designing a base on a foreign planet with more confidence. The task required not only engineering knowledge from me, but also the ability to look to the future: I had to think in detail about how a colony on Mars could sustain itself with minimal support from Earth.

He adds that the success of the Polish team can be an inspiration for other students, showing that it is worth boldly reaching for projects that go beyond the curriculum and joining forces with enthusiasts from various fields.

Colonisation of Mars

The team's concept for a Mars base is part of the wider context of preparations for manned exploration of the Red Planet. The largest space agencies are working on similar challenges - NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars within the next decade or so. The American agency aims to make the first human landing on Mars around 2040, which is close to the time frame of the competition.

The private sector is also dreaming of colonising Mars. SpaceX is developing its Starship fleet specifically for interplanetary missions and openly declaring its goal of establishing a self-sufficient colony on Mars.