A radical thinking exercise to rethink all the bases: energy, autonomy, communication, leadership
When the red planet becomes the mirror of our limits
It is a white room with the smell of cold metal, at the Pasadena research center, California. On the main screen, Mars spreads throughout its orange dust. A handful of engineers work there, but that day, the exercise is not scientific. This is a mental game: what if you were to base a business on Mars?
Not in fifty years, when everything is marked. But tomorrow morning. With today’s means.
The objective? Force leaders and entrepreneurs to free themselves from any land inheritance. On Mars, nothing is given: no air, no free water, no continuous energy, no reliable internet network, not even the certainty of surviving the week. In such a context, each decision becomes existential. And, strangely, it is in this hostile environment that the most daring ideas are revealed to reinvent the way of creating and directing an organization here, on earth.
On Mars, the rule is brutal: no energy, no life.
225 million kilometers from the earth, the sun shines twice as hard. The solar panels produce less, and each square meter counts. Compact nuclear energy is an option, but every kilo sent from Earth costs millions.
On Earth, most companies consume first, then optimize. On Mars, order is reversed: energy production must be secured before even designing the first product or service.
“The first question is not how much it will cost, but how will I generate enough energy for the project to exist?” »» explains Leïla N’Guyen, engineer in autonomous systems and consultant with space start-ups.
She continues: “This radical constraint obliges to integrate energy sobriety from design. We cannot afford to build something that pumps 50 % of daily production. On Mars, a waste Watt is a vital risk. »»
Lesson for land: consider energy as a strategic resource from the outset, not as an inevitable monthly invoice. Companies that would start from this principle on earth would radically rethink their models, their tools and their environmental impact.
When replenishment does not exist: to be autonomous
On Earth, a company can order a room in 48 hours, or even in two hours if it is in Paris, New York or Tokyo. On Mars, replenishment takes… between 6 and 9 months. And again, if a rocket is planned and there is no solar storm.
It changes everything.
This means that the Martian company must be able to produce, repair, reuse and recycle everything on site. The endless logistics chains that we consider normal disappear.
Marc Eberlin, Swiss entrepreneur who participated in a Martian simulation program in Iceland, says: “We had a 3D printer and a limited reserve of polymers. A broken room could put us in danger. The only option was to design modular objects that are easy to disassemble, whose parts could be recounded and reprinted. We ended up making our tools with furniture parts. It was DIY … but it was autonomy. »»
Lesson for earth: Design resilient systems, capable of operating even when the supply chain breaks. Recent crises – pandemic, shortage of electronic components – have shown that even on earth, logistical dependence is a structural weakness.
Master communication as a corporate culture
On Mars, a simple message takes between 4 and 24 minutes to arrive on earth, depending on the position of the planets. In other words, no conversation in real time is possible with the rest of the world.
For a business manager accustomed to the instant zoom meeting, it is an upheaval.
You have to anticipate, write complete messages, imagine the probable answers, make decisions without being able to check live.
Sofia Alvarez, psychologist specializing in isolated crews, summarizes it as follows: “On Mars, communication is slow by nature. She forces a discipline: we don’t talk to each other to reassure ourselves, we exchange to act. And above all, we learn to decide without waiting for the constant validation of a superior or a partner. »»
Lesson for land: slowing communication can sometimes improve it. Organizations obsessed with instantaneousness are drowning in superficial exchanges. A delay, even voluntary, promotes more thoughtful responses and reduces informational noise.
Leadership: Directing without a net, a question of survival
In such a hostile environment, leadership is no longer a question of managerial style or trendy “soft skills”. It is a matter of collective survival.
On Mars, a leader cannot know everything or decide everything. He must surround himself with people capable of taking critical initiatives without delay detailed instructions.
This involves recruiting not for perfect CVs, but for profiles capable of learning quickly, keeping their cool and collaborating even in disagreement.
“The manager Martian must accept to be sometimes useless”explains Amadou Diallo, former naval officer and trainer in crisis management. “If the team is well prepared, it can make the right decisions without you. On Mars, micro-management is a deadly danger. »»
Lesson for the earth: to train truly autonomous teams and trust them. The leaders who control everything slow down decision -making and weaken global resilience.
Forced innovation but on the basis of recycling
Martian constraints do not give way to complacency.
They force a “frugal” innovation, where each idea must solve several problems at the same time.
An example: a housing module could be designed to capture solar energy, recycle air, filter water and produce food in hydroponics – all with materials recycled on site.
On Earth, this would be called “sustainability”. On Mars, it’s just logic.
This type of systemic thinking could transform whole industries here below.
Why not design factories capable of recycling 100 % of their resource waste? Why not develop offices producing their own energy and food? Mars makes these ideas urgent … but they are already relevant on earth.
Living and working on Mars, even in a simulation, reveals the naked truth about human relations.
Isolation, lack of resources, promiscuity … Any amplifies tensions. Minor conflicts become threats. Transparency, clarity of expectations and emotional management are no longer “plus”: they become structural.
Sofia Alvarez insists: “In an extreme environment, the slightest ambiguity can be expensive. We cannot afford to “guess” what the other means. On Earth, we leave a lot of implicit in management. On Mars, we eliminate it. »»
Lesson for land: establishing clear and explicit communication in the teams, even in period of apparent comfort, to avoid crises when the pressure increases.
From mental game to strategic tool
Land companies are starting to use Martian analogy as a training tool.
They place their teams in scenarios where each resource is limited, each time extended, each critical decision.
Not to prepare for space colonization, but to learn to think out of the frame, to detect the faults of their systems and to cultivate an authentic resilience.
The RED Horizon strategic design agency, for example, is organizing “March sprints”: three days when a management team must design a viable business on the red planet, with a budget, an infrastructure and a fictitious team.
“In the end, leaders understand that it is not a science fiction exercise”says its founder, Kira Holmström. “It’s a radical way of asking the question: if everything was to be reinvented, what would you keep?” »»