A self-sustaining Earth-Mars architecture utilizing Martian colonies based on the North Polar Cap

A new approach for the early establishment of robust colonies on Mars is proposed. The colonies, which would be located on the North Polar Cap of Mars, would utilize the readily available water ice and the Martian atmosphere to produce virtually all of the supplies-H₂ and O₂ propellants, hydrocarbon fuels and propellants, breathable air, plastics, food, etc.-needed by the colony. The colonists would live in thermally insulated large, comfortable habitats beneath the ice surface, where they would be fully shielded from cosmic radiation. The habitats and supplies would be produced and stockpiled by a compact, nuclear powered robotic device termed ALPH (Atomic Liberation of Propellant and Habitat) which would land on the North Polar Cap two years before the colonists arrived. Also described is MICE (Mars Ice Cap Explorer), which is a precursor mission in which a small ALPH-like reactor unit would travel deep inside the North Polar Cap, collecting data on its internal structure, the composition and properties of the ancient Martian atmosphere, and possible evidence of ancient life forms (microfossils, traces of DNA, etc.) that were deposited either by wind or as remnants of the ancient North Polar ocean