Mars College Institute for Insurrectionary Ecology (Tool Camp) is the makerspace and R&D arm of the Mars Campus. We will focus on designing, prototyping, testing, and documenting experimental low-cost, off-grid and open source infrastructure.
We are a non-hierarchical and cooperative experiential education program, in which all participants both learn AND teach. All participants work collaboratively, pooling our skills, knowledge, and resources in order to iteratively design, build, test, and document projects that will increase our overall quality of life, and lower our overall resource consumption and cost of living.
Programming
Full disclosure, this is our first time trying this, and like everything else, the program is an experiment. The goal is to create a program together that allows us to all benefit from our collective resources. How this looks will evolve to meet the collective needs of whoever decides to be a part of it.
The program will be focused on an iterative weekly design/build process that keeps projects moving forward, and lets participants build support for promising ideas, receive micro grants for project materials from a pool of camp funds, prototype and test the performance of their projects, and then publish their documentation and results.
Any participant can pitch any project they choose, they can contribute to any projects they choose, and they can choose how and when they work on those projects. The projects don't have to succeed at their intended goals, the only rule is that they must be finished, and they MUST BE DOCUMENTED.
Capturing and recording our documentation in weekly sprints breaks it up into manageable chunks, and by the end of Mars every participant will have already built a portfolio of projects they led or contributed to as proof of their work, to present at Finals.
Facilities
A communal pallet rack-based structure will serves the following functions:
Shared facilities:
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Kitchen/Common area: a place to store and prepare food and water. Also to eat and hang out.
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Maker space: a place to store and set up tools and tables to work on. Our best attempt at a functional, off grid workshop
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Storage and recycling: a space for the storage and processing of materials
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Powerhouse: lots of solar and power storage
Housing:
Bring your own housing. There is space for vans, campers, trailers, cars and heavy duty tents. If you want to experiment with building small temporary, desert housing this would be very in line with the ethos of this camp, but come with something else to sleep in first!
If bringing your own place to sleep is not an option, it is still worth applying. We may be able to work something out for you on a case by case basis.
Cost
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A major area of our research will be achieving the highest quality of life at the lowest possible cost of living. There is no rent, tuition or profit-margin.
A sliding scale operating cost of $300-$600 per participant per month will be collected and pooled, and allocated to meet critical needs and expenses, such as food, internet, and critical equipment. This pool of funds will cover food costs and other base expenses each week, and any money remaining in the pool will be available for the cohort to allocate to projects.
All participants will have an equal say in how funds are allocated. Any money remaining at the end of Mars will be redistributed back to participants, so each person only pays the base cost of living for the camp. Full and partial scholarships and non-monetary contributions may be available on a case by case basis if monetary contribution is a barrier to participation.
Who Should Apply
If pushing the limits of open-source off-grid technology sounds like a fun way to spend your winter, apply now! We're looking for creative folks with a wide range of skills and knowledge, but no specific skills or backgrounds are required. You should enjoy problem-solving and working on technical challenges, and work well with others in a collaborative environment, though you are encouraged to focus on whatever interests you the most.
Potential areas of research include:
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Building and Maintaining a Solar Microgrid
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Rainwater Collection and Filtration
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Rainwater and Solar Powered Showers
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IBC Waste Water Biofiltration
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Large-Scale Earthen 3D Printing
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Waste Biomass Gasification
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Wind Turbines
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Concentrating Solar Power
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Hydroponic Food Production
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Mars Rovers
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3D Printing with Waste Plastic
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Decentralized Internet and Communications Systems
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Biome Automation
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Solar Powered Kitchen
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Metal Casting with Aluminum Cans and Scrap Metal
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Geopolymers and Aircrete
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Deployable Structures
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YOUR PROJECT...
