# Life Support Assessment Map for Mars **URL:** \ **Category:** Regolith AWG Topics\ **Created:** [August 24, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/life-support-assessment-map-for-mars/4529 "2026-08-24T13:46:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adenvir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/adenvir/32/4322_2.png) [@adenvir](https://awg.osdr.space/u/adenvir)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/life-support-assessment-map-for-mars/4529/1 "2026-08-24T13:46:46Z")
Howdy all, The [@RegolithAWG](https://awg.osdr.space/groups/regolithawg) will be working on developing a framework to assess life support suitability for landing sites on the Martian surface. This project is just beginning and is open to all. We are currently coming up with ideas of what data we’d like to input to our model. Possible areas of interest for us include the presence of lava tunnels, water table depth, pH, solar power potential, and more. If you have any questions, please reach out to @adenvir or @borjabarbero There is a google doc for this project. Feel free to edit as you see fit: [Developing a Life Support Assessment Map for Mars - Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I67pleipankI4U1a9uuJtsM7Sidm3KI-d7e5jGJT_Ts/edit?usp=sharing) Excited to work with you all. Aenghus ---
**Author:** ![Subsolum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/subsolum/32/4609_2.png) [@Subsolum](https://awg.osdr.space/u/Subsolum)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 8:52am UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/life-support-assessment-map-for-mars/4529/2 "2026-09-09T08:52:31Z")
Terminology note: this is framed throughout as “regolith-based agriculture,” but the suitability criteria you’re screening for are pedological, not geological. “Regolith” just means unconsolidated material on bedrock, no matter how altered. “Soil” implies evidence of chemical weathering. Two pieces of prior work back this up directly. Certini et al. (2020) argue explicitly for Mars that in situ data at Gusev, Meridiani and Gale show clear pedogenic signatures, and that “soil” is the more accurate term precisely because it signals pedological protocols are the right approach — not just geochemical survey. Lybrand (2023) makes the connection to this project even more directly: she frames “space agriculture” as one of three pillars linking soil science to planetary science, and notes that the Soil Science Society of America’s 2017 definition of soil was deliberately broadened (Van Es, 2017) to push back on the “implicit message that soil science would not be relevant outside planet Earth.” That’s directly relevant to how this framework gets positioned: calling it “soil suitability” rather than “regolith suitability” is what invites soil scientists (and their toolkit) into the conversation instead of leaving it purely geochemical. Suggestion: keep “regolith” for the raw material description, switch to “soil” once you’re assessing pedogenic/agricultural suitability. Happy to help with that pass through the Introduction if useful. References: Certini, G., Karunatillake, S., Zhao, Y.-Y.S., Meslin, P.-Y., Cousin, A., Hood, D.R., Scalenghe, R. (2020). _Disambiguating the soils of Mars_. Planetary and Space Science, 186, 104922. Lybrand, R.A. (2023). _Connecting soils to life in conservation planning, nutrient cycling, and planetary science_. Earth-Science Reviews, 237, 104247. van Es, H. (2017). _A new definition of soil_. CSA News, 62(10), 20–21. ---
**Author:** ![adenvir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/adenvir/32/4322_2.png) [@adenvir](https://awg.osdr.space/u/adenvir)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 10:19pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/life-support-assessment-map-for-mars/4529/3 "2026-09-09T22:19:43Z")
Interesting and important note, thanks for sharing. We’re still trying to determine what this project will yield. I’ll bring this up at the meeting next week. ---
**Author:** ![Subsolum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/subsolum/32/4609_2.png) [@Subsolum](https://awg.osdr.space/u/Subsolum)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:21pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/life-support-assessment-map-for-mars/4529/4 "2026-10-13T13:21:33Z")
Dear Aenghus, please consider this new article from the pedology community: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816226008593](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816226008593) Best regards. ---
**Author:** ![adenvir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/adenvir/32/4322_2.png) [@adenvir](https://awg.osdr.space/u/adenvir)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/life-support-assessment-map-for-mars/4529/5 "2026-10-13T14:39:19Z")
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!