CHALLENGE 01 / 05 · WATER
Artificial Intelligence Is Thirsty
Central question: Can we sustain computation without competing for essential water resources?
Explore the question
Artificial intelligence may feel weightless, but the systems that support it have real water needs. Data-centre cooling, electricity generation, manufacturing and local water conditions are connected. Water is not an unlimited input. It is a shared resource that sustains communities, ecosystems, agriculture and industry.
On Mars, every drop would be accounted for. What would we change on Earth if we treated water with the same responsibility?
MARS CHALLENGE 2027
How Much Intelligence Can the Planet Sustain?
Mars is the challenge. Earth is the mission.
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The Invisible Water Behind AI
A digital response depends on physical equipment operating at the right temperature. Many data centres manage heat using cooling systems whose water demand depends on the design, climate, operating conditions and electricity supply. Water is also implicated upstream in power generation and semiconductor manufacturing. These different forms of water use should not be collapsed into a single universal figure.
A system that appears efficient in energy terms can create new pressures on water. A water-saving intervention can shift costs towards electricity, materials or emissions. Responsible design means seeing the trade-offs rather than moving impacts out of sight.
The system: AI demand → computing equipment → heat → cooling choice → local water and energy systems → impacts and return flows.
Key distinction: Water withdrawal, water consumption and water stress are not interchangeable metrics. The place and season matter as much as the volume.
Connected system · conceptual diagram
- AI demand
- Compute
- Heat
- Cooling
- Local water & energy
- Impacts & return flows
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Why Water Is a Shared Limit
Cooling demand does not occur in an empty landscape. It enters a watershed with existing uses, rights, ecological needs and periods of drought. A solution viable in a water-abundant region may be unsuitable where drinking-water services or ecosystems already face stress.
Four decision lenses:
- Availability: How much water is available, when, and for whom?
- Technology: Which cooling approaches can achieve safe operation, and at what resource cost?
- Territory: How do location, climate, infrastructure and local priorities affect the decision?
- Accountability: What should operators measure, disclose, monitor and reconsider?
Water sustainability is not just a technical performance target. It is a question of responsible coexistence with a territory.
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The Mars Constraint / Earth-Back Thinking
On Mars, water would be a strategic life-support resource. Leakage, avoidable loss and poorly understood demand would threaten the whole system. Closed loops, redundancy, monitoring and the recovery of resources would not be optional extras.
Four-stage learning movement:
Mars is a stress test, not an instruction to copy space technology uncritically. What works on Earth must respond to local contexts and evidence.
UNDERSTAND: Investigate a real water-related problem created or intensified by digital infrastructure on Earth.
CONSTRAIN: Imagine operating under the scarcity, isolation, limited replacement and system-dependence of Mars.
DESIGN: Propose and test a solution that makes flows, trade-offs and safeguards explicit.
RETURN: Evaluate what could responsibly work in a specific territory on Earth.
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Choose an Investigation
Explore an entry point and define one tractable question before developing a solution.
Close the loop
Make water use visible
Plan for water-stressed regions
Connect energy and water
Design principle: A good question is specific enough to investigate, yet important enough to change a decision.
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What Could You Build?
These are illustrative project directions, not prescribed submissions or verified outcomes:
The point is not to build the most futuristic object. It is to make a credible improvement testable, explain its constraints and show what it would mean for Earth.
01 / Illustrative concept · not a validated solution
Water-aware cooling concept: A modular cooling design with monitored flows and an explicit comparison of water/energy requirements.
02 / Illustrative concept · not a validated solution
Closed-loop prototype: A small-scale demonstrator that measures loss, recovery, quality and operating limits.
03 / Illustrative concept · not a validated solution
Water transparency dashboard: A prototype that distinguishes withdrawals, consumption, source and local water stress where appropriate data exists.
04 / Illustrative concept · not a validated solution
Territorial decision model: A scenario tool to compare infrastructure locations using water availability, community needs, energy and resilience.
05 / Illustrative concept · not a validated solution
Adaptive operating plan: A model for changing workloads or cooling modes under water-stress conditions while documenting reliability and other impacts.
Illustrative concept · not a validated solution
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A Problem for More Than Engineers
Engineering & computing examine thermal loads, performance, control and systems. Environmental sciences assess hydrology, water quality and ecological stress. Economics & management examine viability and resource trade-offs. Law & policy address rights, standards and accountability. Design & architecture consider buildings, siting and user experience. Social sciences & communication investigate public trust, local participation and clarity of information.
Good teams do not merely divide tasks by discipline. They allow different forms of knowledge to change the problem definition.
- Engineering & computing
- Environmental sciences
- Economics & management
- Law & public policy
- Design & architecture
- Social sciences & humanities
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From Investigation to Defensible Proposal
A useful project trail can include:
problem and evidence;
system map;
design criteria;
proposed response;
prototype or simulation;
feasibility and trade-offs;
Earth-Back return;
public defence.
These are recommended evidence areas, not confirmed mandatory deliverables for 2027.
Questions a team should answer: What water is being used? Where and when? How will the intervention affect energy or material demand? Who benefits, who bears costs, and what evidence could disprove our assumptions?
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One Water Challenge, Four Ways to Participate
PIONEERS: Explore a concrete water question and discover abilities through action before higher education.
ORIGINALS: Bring university knowledge across disciplines to a water problem with real constraints.
ANCESTRAL: Where communities choose to participate, engage living territorial knowledge with proper authority, consent and context.
NO HUMAN B: Design accessible, neuroinclusive routes to investigate the same rigorous challenge.
The five 2027 challenge areas define what is investigated. The four missions describe how different participants enter the same global programme.
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Connected by Design
Water connects to Energy (electricity and heat); Infrastructure (siting and cooling systems); Materials (equipment, pipes, manufacturing and reuse); and Humanity (access, governance, local rights and equity). A water proposal is incomplete if it ignores the system around it.
Explore related challenges: Energy · Infrastructure · Materials · Humanity.
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Investigate with Us
A better digital future cannot be built by treating water as invisible. Mars Challenge 2027 invites young people, educators, institutions, technology actors and communities to confront this shared limit through evidence, imagination and responsible decisions.
Closing line: Every drop has a place in the future of intelligence.
Operational note: Eligibility, registration, calendar, selection and deliverables for 2027 remain subject to official confirmation. Interest is not registration or guaranteed admission.