Mareekh Dynamics

New blog post on our website on the technological overview of the Craterhab Technology and its associated components; the Active Integrated Radiation Shield (AIRS) and Smart Design.

CRATERHAB™ TECHNOLOGY: An Engineering Overview and its Applications (Fig. 1: AI rendering of a Craterhab tourist settlement in Altiplano, Bolivia at 5000m altitude to mimic conditions of living on Mars)What is Craterhab™ Technology?Craterhab Technology is Mareekh Dynamics’ patented human habitation concept for Mars, Moon, or any other world or terrestrial enviro...

The similarities of a Martian surface to the Mud Volcano fields of Hingol and Lasbela deepens with every new discovery. You see similar surface deposition of sulfur in the vast mud volcano fields of Balochistan, Pakistan.
Please read our blog article from Jul 2021 on Mud Volcanism on Mars.
https://www.mareekh.com/post/mud-volcanism-on-mars

*Cronch* I ran over a rock and found crystals inside!

It's pure sulfur. (And no, it doesn’t smell.) Elemental sulfur is something we’ve never seen before on Mars. We don't know much about these yellow crystals yet, but my team is excited to investigate. go.nasa.gov/4bPdSow

Check out our new blog post on the terrestrial applications of the Craterhab Technology. The article is a brief overview of how a technology intended for space can revolutionize economy and healthcare of high-altitude regions of the world.

Terrestrial Applications of Craterhab™ Technology; Revolutionizing Health and Tourism in High Altitude Low Pressure Environments (AI rendition of a Craterhab tourist base in Altiplano, Bolivia)BackgroundCraterhab™ is the flagship patented concept of Mareekh Dynamics. These are ultra-high tensile strength fabric domes capable of holding at least 1 bar of internal inflation pressure. Consisting of hexagonal multilayered skele...

Permanent human settlement on Mars won't be possible unless a sustainable method for large-scale food production is achieved. Small hydroponic modules in habitation pods are for experimental purposes at best and cannot cater for sizeable human population there due to high cost and limited yield. While Craterhab technology aims to provide micro-terraformed environments on Mars for Earth-style agricultural farming in prepared soil covering several hectares inside pressurized Craterhab domes and protected from the outside elements such as extremely low pressures and high radiation, there are still several key differences from the way we carry out agriculture here on Earth, in the unique Martian context.
Rida Fatima explores some of the challenges we will still face and how to mitigate those for a successful large-scale farming and agriculture on Mars, in her latest blog post on our website.

Plant Growth and Adaptation Strategies in the Martian Greenhouse Craterhabs 1. INTRODUCTIONMars serves as a primary focus for astrobiology research not solely due to its similarities with our planet, but also because of other technical reasons. Billions of years ago, Mars hosted liquid water and boasted an environment having significant similarities to Earth. Surviving on M...

This year we have once again bagged our position as a finalist across several categories in the Australian Space Awards 2024. We are grateful to the Judges for giving us an opportunity to showcase our innovative technologies for the humanity's future beyond our home planet.

New blog post on our website;
Understanding Mareekh Process - A Thermodynamic Journey.
An attempt at explaining our patented power generation concept for Mars through In-Situ Resource Utilization of the Martian subsurface ice to generate unlimited amount of clean energy utilizing unique thermodynamic attributes of the Martian environment.
https://www.mareekh.com/post/understanding-mareekh-process-a-thermodynamic-journey

Our poster series. MAREEKHNAVARD or مریخ نورد is an astronaut traveller to Mars who risks taking the long and arduous journey to the red planet and sets foot there. MAREEKHPÆMA or مریخ پیما, is an astronaut explorer who scales the tough and uncharted terrain on Mars.

A quick follow-up of our last post about the discovery of huge subsurface ice deposits at the Martian equator, several kilometers thick. This is great news as it proves subsurface ice is pretty much spread throughout the Martian surface starting anywhere from a few centimeters beneath the surface near poles, to several hundred meters from surface near the equator. The fact is, there is a lot of water on Mars, and it is being proven to be more than previously thought with every closer inspection of the Martian surface.
One of the Mareekh Dynamics' observations has been in relation to the dark slope streaks on Mars which is conventionally believed to be dust avalanches. We have a different opinion about it and believe these are temporary liquid water activity on Mars in the form of fine mud that flows down the slopes briefly on Martian surface and dries out, forming these dark streaks. We find our proposed phenomenon of dark slope streaks on Mars as analogous to the mud flow streaks in the mud volcano fields of Pakistan (Mud volcanism on Mars, Hussain et al, 20th Australian Space Research Conference 2022). Our reasoning for proposing dark slope streaks on Mars goes beyond the stark visual similarities between the streaks on Mars and in the mud volcano fields of Pakistan, and is based on the fact that both regions have subsurface water fairly close to the surface (albeit in the form of water-ice on Mars, and brine in the mud volcano fields), and a geothermal activity beneath it. Mars does not have active volcanoes but has geothermal activity deep under its surface. On Earth, the geothermal heat that builds up over time has the luxury of venting out through active volcanoes and between continental plates causing plate tectonic movements. Mars does not have plate movements and the volcanoes are all dead or extinct. Though weak, Mars does have geothermal activity under its crust and builds up slowly. We believe it may be causing the subsurface ice to melt in places which churns and mixes with Martian regolith and breaks out in small vents few centimeters wide and flow down the slope as dark streaks before drying out. Our observations in the mud volcano regions in Pakistan is that the mud flows are composed of brine mixed with very fine clay as smooth as talc, and flow with almost no resistance to several hundred meters. If the streaks are brine mudflows of similar consistency, these may flow to a considerable distance before drying out in very thin Martian atmosphere. Low temperature on Mars might come in handy and slow down its evaporation in the thin atmosphere.
Here it gets interesting. The thick equatorial ice deposits are found in and around the Medusae Fossae region with the greatest concentration right at the equator north of Mangala Valles region. We have known about this region for its very high concentration of dark streaks which in high resolution HiRISE and other imagery, are literally over almost every single slope right next to each other. There are slope streaks on Mars in most of its northern hemisphere, but not in this concentration. This region is on average 2000-3500m below the Martian mean altitude. And now there is a huge water-ice deposit underneath. Coincidence? Let's find out.
The southern hemisphere of Mars mostly consists of highlands, with average altitude of 3000-4000m above Martian mean. Detailed inspection of HiRISE images of Mars reveals very few to none of these enigmatic slope streaks in these highlands. If the slope streaks are universally a dry dust avalanche phenomenon, why are there very few streaks in the high altitude southern region of Mars? One might argue that elevation and thinning of the atmosphere may play a role in the lack of slope streaks in the high altitude regions of Mars. This takes us to the flanks of the largest volcano in the Solar System, the mighty Olympus Mons. Here we find large slope streaks nearly all along its flank flowing down the cliffs in the high resolution imagery, especially over its southern flank, present at altitudes of 3000-4000m above Martian mean altitude. Why is that so? Could it be because Olympus Mons is a dead volcano but may still have geothermal activity deep in its core, causing the melting of subsurface ice and welling it up, which is breaking out of its slopes as mudflows? We unapologetically claimed in our article that Olympus Mons and other volcanoes in the Tharsis group could be wholly or partially mud volcanoes (either dead basaltic volcanoes now active as mud volcanoes, or had always been mud volcanoes for billions of years and never died, and are still active). This conclusion could be preposterous and a bit of a stretch, but who knows? Every new evidence of ice beneath the Martian surface brings us closer to this conclusion ever so slightly.
One of the implications of finding substantial subsurface ice deposits near the Martian equator is that it expands our scope of imagining establishment of human settlements on Mars at or near the equator closer to the geologically interesting regions, not only in regards to access to water for human consumption but also for the operation of our patented novel hybrid power generation concept for Mars, the Mareekh Process, which will utilize the subsurface ice to generate enormous amount of power utilizing unique thermodynamic attributes of the Martian atmosphere.
This post will be followed by a blog post on our website Mareekh Dynamics.

On Mars, subsurface water-ice is fuel. And there is a LOT of it!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/01/19/massive-siloes-of-water-ice-found-on-mars-could-help-astronauts-say-scientists/?sh=30e1971636ac

Huge Reservoirs Of Water Ice Found On Mars Could Help First Astronauts, Say Scientists Scientists have found massive deposits of water ice buried below the surface of Mars' equator, enough to cover the entire planet in water.

New blog post on our website. Humanity's future on Mars depicting Mareekh Dynamics' patented habitation solutions and technologies through the eyes of AI and its imaginative capability.

Mareekh; An AI's Odyssey To Mars Over past few days, we trained AI to understand Mareekh Dynamics' concepts for the engineering solutions for human habitation on Mars. We asked it complex abstractions relating our technologies and prompted it to look up and search for answers on our website. Eventually we were able to ask it to dra...

Our extensive work on studying mud-volcano fields in the Hingol, Lasbela, Awaran and Makran region of Pakistan and studying the morphological similarities of these mudflows to the enigmatic dark streaks on Mars suggesting origins of these streaks as possible mudflows and active surface liquid water activity on Mars, is getting acknowledgement. Our article on Mud Volcanism on Mars is now published in the peer-reviewed publication of the proceedings of ASRC 2022 Sydney.

Blog update:
Craterhab Technology; Its Terrestrial Application and Business Case.
An overview of the potential of Craterhab technology to facilitate human settlement on Mars and promote high-altitude tourism and healthcare through its terrestrial utility.

Craterhab Technology; Its Terrestrial Application and Business Case What are Craterhabs? Craterhab is Mareekh Dynamics’ signature concept product, patented under USPTO. These are fabric domes up to several hundred meters in diameter, designed to be built over Martian craters and anchored into the compact rims of the craters to withhold nearly one bar of internal p...

Our Day 3 presentation on our patented Mareekh Process; a hybrid power generation concept for Mars, at the 2023 International Mars Convention at Arizona State University on 7th Oct 2023. (Video by Dr Abe Chandra)

Mareekh Process - 2023 International Mars Society Convention Direct recording of my presentation on our Craterhab Technology: a patented large scale human habitation solution for Mars, at 2023 International Mars Societ...

Our Day 1 presentation on our patented Craterhab Technology; a modular large scale human habitation concept for Mars at the 2023 International Mars Convention at Arizona State University on 5th Oct 2023 . (Video by Dr Abe Chandra)

Craterhab Technology - 2023 International Mars Society Convention. Direct recording of my presentation on our Craterhab Technology: a patented large scale human habitation solution for Mars, at 2023 International Mars Societ...

https://www.marssociety.org/news/2023/04/20/set-at-asu-again-2023-mars-society-convention-promises-to-be-a-state-of-the-art-event/
Four days program and dozens of presentations and talks related to Mars. Join virtually and listen to the experts share their vision, insight and technologies for exploring and settling on the red planet.

Set at ASU Again, 2023 Mars Society Convention Promises to be a State-of-the-Art Event - The Mars Society The Mars Society is pleased to announce that the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention will be held once again on the picturesque campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe on Thursday-Sunday, October 5-8, 2023.  As in previous years, the international conference will bring toge...

Polygonal plate-like pattern of dried and preserved mud flows on Mars by Curiosity Rover.
Mud-volcanoes are known to have existed on Mars. We believe there are existing active mud volcanoes on Mars spewing mud that actively flow over the surface periodically even in present times, perhaps as the enigmatic dark streaks seen in the photographs of the Martian surface from orbiters. Our analysis has been based on the stark similarities of the dark streaks on Mars to the active mud-flows in the mud-volcanic field of Hingol and Lasbela in Pakistan.
This picture from curiosity rover is very similar to the freshly dried mudflows in the above-mentioned mud-volcano fields, giving a hint that perhaps these polygonal dried patterns may be from some recent mudflows on Mars. Though these could also be preserved ancient mud-flow patterns, but in that case, they should have been eroded by the wind erosion on Mars.
https://www.mareekh.com/post/mud-volcanism-on-mars

Check out this patchwork of well-preserved mud cracks that NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover found. They show a history of wet-dry cycles on early Mars, which scientists think could have provided conditions for microscopic life to form. Latest findings: go.nasa.gov/3QtgykZ

We are proud to secure Australian Export Development Grant to promote Mareekh Dynamics, and its patented engineering solutions for human habitation on Mars including our Craterhab Technology and the Hybrid Power Generation concept for Mars as an Australian made product to the world. The grant will cover 50% of the expenses incurred in our promotional and developmental activities for this financial year.

New blog post on our website:
Lake Torrens; A Living Fossil
Dr M Akbar Hussain discusses his findings related to the presence of fossilised and (perhaps previously undocumented) living stromatolites in Lake Torrens and the implications of this find in the study of origins of life on Earth and clues for the search for life on Mars.

Lake Torrens; A Living Fossil 'We acknowledge the Kuyani, Kokatha and Arabunna people; the traditional Custodians of the Lake Torrens and surrounding lands, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We will forever strive for maintaining the sanctity of the lake for its spiritual and cultural significance and advoca...

Our third patent is now published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
This is the design patent for the Craterhab, consisting of a hemi-ellipsoid dome with a hexagonal body framework. Mareekh Dynamics now officially owns this design for Mars habitats ✌️

Fossilized Stromatolites of Lake Torrens, South Australia
(by M Akbar Hussain)

Lake Torrens (Kuyani: Ngarndamukia or Ngurndamukinah) is one of the inland saline lakes in South Australia, and is a place of great cultural and spiritual significance for Kuyani, Kokatha and Arabunna people.
We visited the northern shores of the lake after learning about the existence of fossilized stromatolites. Stromatolites are the colonies of some of the earliest forms of life on Earth, the Cyanobacteria which covered vast areas of land on Earth in its early biological history from 3.5 billion years to several hundred million years ago. These were photosynthetic life forms that released oxygen in the atmosphere, shaping the biological timeline of the planet as we know today. While most of the cyanobacterial colonies have disappeared from the face of Earth, few scattered examples of living cyanobacterial colonies or stromatolites are still in existence such as shores of Western Australia.
With the shaping and shifting of Earth's crust over past billions of years, vast majority of the stromatolite fossils are found embedded in the sedimentary layers of rocks, such as in Capitol Reef NP in Utah, US.
Lake Torrens is unique in this perspective as we found large areas of fossilized stromatolites preserved in their natural habitats where they thrived hundreds of millions of years ago; preserved by the undisturbed nature of the Lake Torrens from erosion and human intervention. This may be one of the very few places on Earth where evidence of ancient stromatolites is well preserved in their natural habitat.
While we were aware of the existence of fossilized stromatolites in Lake Torrens, observing which was the sole purpose of the our visit there, their numbers and how well these were preserved by nature was something unexpected. To avoid any damage to the delicate relic of nature, we mostly used drones to study the areas covered by stromatolites in order to preserve the pristine nature of the delicate environment of the Lake Torrens.
The existence of fossilized stromatolites may have huge astrobiological significance in relation to our quest for the existence of life on Mars, as Mars is known to have similar environment to early Earth in its early history over 3.7 billion years ago. If there was any life that ever existed on Mars at that time, it could be single cell microbial organisms similar to the Cyanobacteria forming stromatolite-like colonies. Martian surface is believed to become uninhabitable billions of years ago, and if there has been any such life there, it may have been well preserved as fossilized colonies such as fossilized stromatolites in Lake Torrens. As Mars has been subject to much less geological changes and erosion, these colonies could still be well preserved at their location of existence untouched by the elements. Since single cell microbes do not leave fossils per se, their only existence may be in the form of fossilized colonies similar to the fossilized stromatolites, waiting to be discovered and explored on the Red Planet.
Discovery of fossilized stromatolite-like colonies on Mars may be a bigger compelling evidence of life on Mars, than finding living life forms, discovery of which may raise questions about their terrestrial origin through contamination from landers and rovers. For fossilized colonies, their is no possibility of contamination from Earth through landers.
The existence of rare fossilized stromatolites in Lake Torrens may be pivotal in our quest for the ultimate question of humanity if there have been more than one genesis of life in the Universe and whether or not we are alone. The rovers on Mars such as Curiosity and specially Perseverance (being in Jazero Crater; a site of ancient shallow lake on Mars and very much analogous to Lake Torrens) can be remotely recalibrated to look for the evidence of stromatolite-like structures on Mars and study their chemical composition and compare it with the fossilized stromatolites on Earth. Lake Torrens may hold the key to the secrets of genesis not only on Earth but on Mars too through its pristine and untouched environment, preserved through time from elements due to its climate and protection through its spiritual and cultural significance by its traditional custodians. The existence of fossilized stromatolites and its astrobiological significance in relation to our search for life on Mars makes it even more important to preserve the pristine nature of the Lake Torrens and its surrounding areas.
(In the video, Dave Simons explains fossilized stromatolites and how they were formed. We thank Dave for his comprehensive explanation and knowledge sharing)

Our third space technology patent related to habitation engineering for Mars approved by the USPTO.
On to Mareekh!

Brief description of the energy dynamics of the Mareekh Process; our patented hybrid power generation concept for Mars.
Mareekh Process utilizes subsurface ice on Mars (permafrost or subsurface glaciers) to generate enormous amount of clean energy utilizing the unique attributes of the Martian environment. The magic lies in the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the use of the enormous heat sink of the Martian atmosphere.
This is a brief overview of the energy dynamics of the Mareekh Process and a detailed explanation will be followed soon. Lets dive into the mysterious realm of the 2nd law of thermodynamics and how it holds the key to this enigmatic potential source of energy on the red planet which may prove vital for the establishment of a successful long-term and large scale human settlement on Mars.
https://www.mareekh.com/post/mareekh-process-an-overview-of-the-energy-dynamics

A group of mudvolcanoes in a very sharp image from HiRise

HiRISE | HiPOD: 7 Feb 2023

3D model of a Craterhab
Craterhabs are large volume inflatable structures for human habitation on Mars. These dome like structures are made up of fabric of ultra-high strength composites to withstand immense volumes of artificial internal atmosphere with pressures similar to Earth atmosphere. It's a patented technology developed by Mareekh Dynamics

https://www.sciencealert.com/colossal-discovery-on-mars-could-drive-surging-magma-under-the-surface

Colossal Discovery on Mars Could Drive Surging Magma Under The Surface Scientists may have just identified the culprit behind signs of recently active volcanism on Mars.

Recording of the online presentation for the 25th International Mars Society Convention 2022 on 22nd Oct 2022 for our novel hybrid power generation technology for Mars; the Mareekh Process.
The presentation was meant to cover the entire 30 min duration including 5 min for Q&A, but due to some technical issues at our end, the presentation could only start over 10 min late. So it had to be squeezed within 15 minutes.
Mareekh Process is based on the extraction of Gibbs Free or Available Energy from the phase change of subsurface permafrost from -70C at 30 bar pressure or more, to steam released into the Martian atmosphere at 0.006 bar pressure using an activation energy from an auxiliary power source such as solar or limited nuclear, thus achieving a tremendous increase in entropy of the substrate. The very low pressure and temperature of Mars acts as a very deep heat sink which enables achieving maximum entropy and extraction of the maximum Gibbs Available Energy. This is further enhanced by the innovative features in the design of the Mareekh Process itself including avoidance of conversion of ice or water into steam in any of its energy input processes and using the low outside pressure of the Martian atmosphere to do this, thus saving on the latent heat of vapourization, and also the lack of need of a surface condenser at the steam turbine, saving on further energy input. This will result in the generation of an enormous amount of net energy, which according to our calculations, is up to 10 megawatts of net power per 1 kg conversion of subsurface ice to exit steam per second!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vX3rMD9gEs&t=5s

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Recording of the online presentation for the 25th International Mars Society Convention 2022 on 22nd Oct 2022 for our novel hybrid power generation technology for Mars; the Mareekh Process.
The presentation was meant to cover the entire 30 min duration including 5 min for Q&A, but due to some technical issues at our end, the presentation could only start over 10 min late. So it had to be squeezed within 15 minutes.
Mareekh Process is based on the extraction of Gibbs Free or Available Energy from the phase change of subsurface permafrost from -70C at 30 bar pressure or more, to steam released into the Martian atmosphere at 0.006 bar pressure using an activation energy from an auxiliary power source such as solar or limited nuclear, thus achieving a tremendous increase in entropy of the substrate. The very low pressure and temperature of Mars acts as a very deep heat sink which enables achieving maximum entropy and extraction of the maximum Gibbs Available Energy. This is further enhanced by the innovative features in the design of the Mareekh Process itself including avoidance of conversion of ice or water into steam in any of its energy input processes and using the low outside pressure of the Martian atmosphere to do this, thus saving on the latent heat of vapourization, and also the lack of need of a surface condenser at the steam turbine, saving on further energy input. This will result in the generation of an enormous amount of net energy, which according to our calculations, is up to 10 megawatts of net power per 1 kg conversion of subsurface ice to exit steam per second!

Mareekh Process; 25th International Mars Society Convention presentation Mareekh Process; A Novel Hybrid Power Generation on Mars.This is a recording from my online presentation from the 25th International Mars Society Convention ...