Who would you take to Mars? (Picture: Getty)
Science has worked out who you shouldn’t take to form a Mars colony.
Researchers at George Mason University in Virginia have run computer simulations of up to 28 years on the Red Planet.
Their findings suggest the ideal number of people co-habiting in such a hostile environment would initially be 22.
As for personality types, they concluded ‘agreeable personality types were assessed to be the most enduring for the long term, whereas neurotics showed least adaptation capacity’.
The study assumed that resources for survival would be supplied and instead used an Agent-Based Modeling (ABM simulation) to analyse human reactions.
A paper describing the study explains: ‘Establishing a human settlement on Mars is an incredibly complex engineering problem. The inhospitable nature of the Martian environment requires any habitat to be largely self-sustaining.
Forming a colony on Mars won’t suit everyone (Picture: Nasa/SWNS)
‘Beyond mining a few basic minerals and water, the colonisers will be dependent on Earth resupply and replenishment of necessities via technological means, [such as] splitting Martian water into oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for fuel.
‘Beyond the technical and engineering challenges, future colonists will also face psychological and human behaviour challenges. Our goal is to better understand the behavioral and psychological interactions of future Martian colonists through an Agent-Based Modeling (ABM simulation) approach.
‘We seek to identify areas of consideration for planning a colony as well as propose a minimum initial population size required to create a stable colony.’
The researchers accounted for engineering and technological limitations, and drew on research regarding high performing teams in isolated and high stress environments such as in submarines, Arctic exploration, aboard the International Space Station and at war.
To this they applied what they call four basic personality types to the settlers within the ABM: neurotic, reactive, social and agreeable.
Future Earth ex-pats must be agreeable (Picture: Getty)
Interactions between the colonisers with different psychological profiles were modelled at the individual level, while global events such as accidents or delays in Earth resupply affect the colony as a whole.
The researchers report: ‘From our multiple simulations and scenarios (up to 28 Earth years), we found that an initial population of 22 was the minimum required to maintain a viable colony size over the long run.
‘We also found that the agreeable personality type was the one more likely to survive.
‘We find, contrary to other literature, that the minimum number of people with all personality types that can lead to a sustainable settlement is in the tens and not hundreds.’
Earlier this year, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he believes that humans landing on Mars was ‘possible’ in five years and ‘highly likely’ in a decade.
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It’s a classic personality type.
