EXC 3036:  The Martian Mindset: A Scarcity-Driven Engineering Paradigm

• Subject Area: Process Engineering, Technical Chemistry ; Chemical Solid State and Surface Research ; Production Technology ; Psychology ; Fluid Mechanics, Technical Thermodynamics and Thermal Energy Engineering ; Systems Engineering ; Materials Engineering
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 533607631

The continuous geographic and demographic expansion of humankind has relied on the assumption of essentially unlimited resources and particularly on the massive exploitation of fossil fuels. This has set us on a path toward a rapidly deteriorating environment and an impending age of scarcity, which will challenge the very fundamentals of nearly all production technologies. Accordingly, various research efforts are now focused on achieving a more sustainable, efficient and automated production. In this Cluster, we take a radically new perspective, aiming at a long-term paradigm shift. We place ourselves on Mars, a potentially habitable but inhospitable world with scarce resources, and rethink the production of materials and parts from scratch. The Cluster will develop the Martian Mindset as a new, scarcity-driven paradigm for the production of enough-to-use materials and parts. The Martian Mindset is guided by scarcity constraints in four dimensions—natural resources, electric power, human workforce and information. The research will focus on the sourcing of materials, the processing to parts and the design of operating concepts. We will pursue three main goals: (1) develop (bio-)electrochemical methods for the synthesis of raw materials from low-grade resources; (2) design and demonstrate low-energy process chains that use these raw materials as input to produce a variety of enough-to-use parts; and (3) devise concepts for production facilities jointly operated by human-robot teams and supported by digital representations of the processes and production. The fundamental knowledge gained through the Cluster will lay the foundations for a fossil-fuel-free production of materials and parts from scarce resources in a highly automated and resilient way. In the long term, the Martian Mindset will both power a green transition on Earth and contribute to a sustainable human exploration of space. The Cluster builds upon the decades-long scientific excellence of the University of Bremen and its partner institutes in the fields of materials, processes, production, robotics and space engineering. Established in 2021, the Humans on Mars initiative has synergistically enhanced this excellence with the fields of behavioral sciences and communications engineering, setting the stage for the Cluster. Beyond the expected scientific impact, the Cluster will create supporting structures to: (1) empower future generations of students and scientists to become creative, versatile and responsible risk-takers; (2) deploy innovative concepts for interdisciplinary research data management; and (3) co-develop the Martian Mindset with society, industry and policymakers.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Universität Bremen
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI); Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR); Fraunhofer-Institut für Fertigungstechnik und Angewandte Materialforschung (IFAM); Leibniz-Institut für Werkstofforientierte Technologien IWT
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Marc Avila Canellas; Professor Dr.-Ing. Kurosch Rezwan; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Kirsten Tracht
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Katharina Brinkert; Professor Dr.-Ing. Lucio Colombi Ciacchi; Professor Dr.-Ing. Armin Dekorsy; Professor Dr.-Ing. Andreas Fischer; Professorin Dr. Anna Förster; Professorin Dr. Vera Hagemann; Professor Dr. Andreas Hartwig; Dr.-Ing. Christiane Heinicke; Professorin Bettina von Helversen, Ph.D.; Professor Dr.-Ing. Sven Kerzenmacher; Professor Dr. Frank Kirchner; Dr. Katharina Koschek; Professor Dr. Fabio La Mantia; Professorin Dr. Nicole Megow; Dr.-Ing. Daniel Meyer; Professor Dr.-Ing. Lutz Mädler; Dr.-Ing. Ilya Okulov; Dr.-Ing. Matthias Steinbacher; Professor Dr.-Ing. Jorg Thöming; Dr.-Ing. Anastasiya Tönjes; Cyprien Verseux, Ph.D.; Dr.-Ing. Paul Zabel