A representative of the Mars Society was interviewed on NPR the other day- Founder Dr. Robert Zubrin- in relation to a conference at UCLA. Zubrin was expounding on the exciting future for mankind on the red planet.
It is the usual space exploration cheerleading stuff that must be done to sustain interest. Visit their website and you’ll see that the Mars Society has been sponsoring some simulated Mars missions in order to accumulate experience and credibility to be at the forefront of an actual mission. They even have an impressive list of scientific advisors.
After hearing some of the ambitious plans to colonize and industrialize Mars, it seems clear that the most important resource colonists on Mars will need is a ready supply of electrons.
Exploiting Martian raw materials will be an energy intensive activity. There will be all kinds of electrical devices to power. Don’t forget backup components, tools, and a collection of spare parts. Maybe a whole module should be dedicated to nuts, bolts, screws, toilet plungers, and duct tape. An orange Home Depot supply craft should follow every mission to Mars.
Since fuels and oxidizers for combustion will be in short supply, there will be no hydrocarbon powered … anything. There will be no diesel burning Caterpillars to move dirt. No calcining lime to make concrete. Prospecting for minerals will consume precious energy as will beneficiation of the ore. The refinement of minerals to afford materials of construction will be deeply energy dependent both in terms of building a processing plant and production itself.
Once metal ore is found, it must be taken from a deposit, concentrated, and eventually reduced to the metallic form. This is the other requirement for electrons on Mars. Eventually, metal ions must be supplied with electrons from some more abundant supply. Electrorefining may do the deed from an electrode. The other obvious source is from electropositive metals or from elemental carbon.
Calcium or magnesium are used to reduce a number of other metals already. Coke has been used in iron refining for a long time. But how would a metal refining operation on Mars obtain these electropositive materials? Hauling calcium or coke from earth? Not likely.
Raw materials for metals refining on arid, alien planets will be a real challenge. Electrons for reduction will almost certainly come from electric power generation. Carbonaceous materials will be in too short of a supply. Hydrogen will have to be won by electrolytic cracking of precious water. Consumption of this hydrogen will have to be thought through very carefully, given the previous investment in electrical power to prepare it.
To a very large extent, the colonization of Mars will be an electrically powered adventure. Working electrons on Mars will be the most highly prized resource. Mars Base sounds like a nuclear destination to me.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
The use of nuclear power is extremely likely given the lack of any reduced chemicals. However, there are oxygenated compounds such as peroxides. Is there chemistry that can use the peroxides as a sink for electrons and provide a flow for reduction? Also there should be a fair amount of reduced metallics such as iron and nickel.
Also, it is easy to say nuclear power but what will be used as a heat sink? It would be necessary to find water, ice or solid CO2 to quickly carry off the 2/3s of waste thermal energy (or use the whole living complex as the heat sink via a ‘weather cycle’).
It would be amusing to use a small nuclear reactor in the Arctic for habitat heating and source of electrons for metal refining just to see what the problems are. The Russians are certainly familiar with this and the consequences following the shutdown.
Hi Jay: Your point about dealing with waste heat from a nuclear generator is a good one. The atmosphere on Mars is so thin that convective schemes with low or no resource consumption will be difficult. Perhaps an underground heat exchanger would provide enough heat transfer. But that will be a construction project requiring soil to be moved. Blasting could move soil to form holes or trenches I suppose, minimizing fuel consumption by machinery.
Some waste heat could be captured, in principle, for direct heating of the living spaces, but management of radiation exposure will be an ever-present issue.
You’re right about iron and nickel. There may be enough native metal that extensive refinement won’t be necessary. But it would take time to find it. An analytical chemistry lab will have to be available to assay the ore. And, a rudimentary foundry will still be needed to form metals. On earth, metal forming tools are large steel devices run by big electric motors. Even small metal parts require beefy equipment to punch, bend, or form them. Making castings will also require abundant electrons for power.
There may be a fuel cell design somewhere that uses hydrogen peroxide in the redox cycle. I’d have to look it up. I know there are ceramic electrochemical cells that produce half percent or so of aq H2O2 as a product. I’ve actually seen a demo unit.
As I write this, the consequences of zero technological infrastructure on Mars is really washing over me. Considerable mass is going to have to be transported to Mars to support even the most elementary colonization effort aimed at self-sustained activity. Martian raw material usage will require a good bit of ancillary technology and consequent demand for power.
This will require many small steps to go forward.