15% off membership for Easter! Learn more. Close
My Prep > Interview Questions > How would you design a...
Back to Questions

How would you design a colony on mars.

Asked at Paypal
493 views
category Product Design category Product Sense companypaypal
category Product Design
category Product Sense
Asked at
companypaypal
eye 493 views eye 493 views
book
How to answer Product Design questions
Interview Guide
Answers (1)
Recent Popular Oldest
crownAccess expert answers by becoming a member

You'll get access to over 3,000 product manager interview questions and answers

Sign up for FREE or Login
photos

Recommended by over 100k members

badge Platinum PM
  1. Clarifying questions
    1. Colony over here means a human settlement? or a colony of animals? [yes human settlement]
      1. Colony means - a group of people who settle together in a new place
    2. Mars here is the planet mars? [yes]
    3. Who is trying to design this colony? multi national org. or a govt. or startup? [you can assume. So i'll go with multi national org. who is designing this colony in partnership with govt.]
    4. Any specific objective on why this is being done? [You can assume] ok. Given space constraints on earth, govt. is experimenting by setting up colony on Mars so that slowly people can start settling on Mars. MNC wants to setup it self as a player in designing colony on Mars.
  2. Let me now think of user groups that would want to be part of the colony. (by type of job)
    1. Manufacturing industry
      1. Workers
      2. Executives
    2. Service industry
      1. Mid management
      2. Senior executives.
    3. Community helpers
    4. Agriculture
  3. Prioritize user groups
    1. For any settlement to flourish (like seen in the past) things like food (ability to grow food or catch food), water, suitable weather including - temperature, atmosphere is required. Out of these food is something which needs to be produced thus like in earlier civilizations would like to start with taking the agriculture industry segment to mars so that they grow plants and make the place sustainable for others to come.
  4. Now let's try understanding this user groups pain points or needs
    1. Need to understand what kind of crops can grow on Mars, what kind of conditions are suitable? [severity - high, reach - high]
    2. Very far from earth, nervous on how to reach out for help in case of issues. [severity - high, reach - high]
    3. Need mechanism to shop for daily needs [Severity - med reach - med. initially people can get their stuff from earth]
    4. Farmers have kids, how to ensure that they are learning is unpurturbed. [Severity - high, reach - low to medium]
    5. How to Survive on mars due to temperature extremes, atmosphere very thin [Severity - high, reach - high]
    6. They would have relatives on earth, how to have good and streamlined connectivity with Earth. [Severity - high, reach - high]
  5. Prioritize pain points based on - severity of pain point, reach so that we can build are MVP
  6.  
    1. based on this will prioritize a, b, e, f
  7. Solutions
    1. For pain point a
      1. An smart app that has been fine tuned on all the research that has happened till now on farming/crops on Mars. Provide that tool with image/text based seach to find details on each group. [Cost - cheaper, impact - high]
      2. Automated farming and farmers are just monitoring the farms and providing feedback. [Cost - high]
    2. For pain point e
      1. The colony over all has a big cover that is built of materials to keep normalized temprature, weather conditions irrespective of outside temperature flexuations. [impact - high, cost - high]
      2. Individual houses with farm space and each indidual provided special suits and oxygen mask to save from teperature extremes and very thin atmosphere. [cost - high, impact - low as cumbrsome]
      3. Ensure enough water in place to enable agriculture, day to day activities [cost - high, impact - high]
    3. For f
      1. Provide good speed internet connection with camera so that customers can connect to earth.
    4. for b
      1. Good net connection so that any emergency can be highlighted and from earth help can be sent. [high - high, cost - existing infra might be there]
      2. Keep all kinds of life support system in the colony to cover any kind of emergency for all people in the colony. [high, high]
      3. In space station keep life support systems in place to get those quickly to mars instead of coming from earth. [low, high
  8. Prior of solns based on cost, impact
  9. Trade offs -
  10. conclusion.
 
@requesting feedback on this answer.
Access expert answers by becoming a member
Sign up for FREE or Login
0 likes   |  
Get unlimited access for $12/month
Get access to 2,346 pm interview questions and answers to give yourself a strong edge against other candidates that are interviewing for the same position
Get access to over 238 hours of video material containing an interview prep course, recorded mock interviews by expert PMs, group practice sessions, and QAs with expert PMs
Boost your confidence in PM interviews by attending peer to peer mock interview practices, group practices, and QA sessions with expert PMs
See more details
Get unlimited access for $12/month
Get access to 2,346 pm interview questions and answers to give yourself a strong edge against other candidates that are interviewing for the same position
Get access to over 238 hours of video material containing an interview prep course, recorded mock interviews by expert PMs, group practice sessions, and QAs with expert PMs
Boost your confidence in PM interviews by attending peer to peer mock interview practices, group practices, and QA sessions with expert PMs
See more details