ISRU timeline

ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) is the idea of 'living off the land'. We use local materials rather than bringing everything from Earth. This page discusses the order in which Martian settlers are likely to start using local resources.

The timeline for In Situ Resources Utilization (ISRU) depends on the type of colonization and missions.

Discussion

The favored type of mission at this time, by SpaceX (Mars One), NASA(ISP ver.5) and the Mars Society(Mars Direct) all rely on ISRU to produce part of the products needed for their operation and success.

The resources and productions planned are listed in the following table by order of development:

Resources and products from ISRU

Source	Ressource	Product
Regolith	Water	Water, CH4, O2 and H2, food*.
Atmosphere	CO2	Propellant, Carbon, Oxygen, food.
Atmosphere	Nitrogen	Settlement air, cold thruster gas, food.
Regolith	Regolith	Radiation shielding, roads.
Regolith	To be determined**	Cement, Marscrete, Compressed Regolith Blocks.
Regolith	Iron Oxyde Fe2O3	Iron, steel
Regolith	Calcium Carbonate	Cement
Regolith	SiO2, Sodium Carbonate	Glass
Basalt	Rock	Construction stone, roads, glass fibres
Clay	Very fine separated ores	Ceramics
Salt deposits	Sodium chloride	Salt
Other Salts	(SO2 4−), (Mg2+), (Ca2+), & (K+)	Chemical precursors

*Although food will be produced rapidly for experimental and morale purposes, large scale production will probably wait for the colony population to grow substantially before it becomes economical.

**The best construction material made from regolith will be the subject of some of the first materials research done on Mars and an important scientific objective of initial missions.