–

A MARTIAN QUICKIE: It’s a bit dated (it’s from 1999) and grandiose (it’s from NASA) but here’s a overview of some of the general ISRU concepts with respect to Mars.

No, actually, the article does have some interesting concepts, including the use of carbon monoxide byproducts of propellant production to refine iron from the soil, iron which would then be used to make simple rectennas for microwave power reception from an orbiting solar power platform. Yes, it’s still grandiose, but interesting. It’s far more likely that the iron would be used to produce steel for use in base construction, with power coming from small nuclear power units. Nuclear is a much simpler (and likely cheaper) alternative to power satellites and giant rectenna fields and conversion equipment and the like.