AN INTERIORS company has teamed up with a professor to envisage a home on Mars.

Airlock front doors and light shafts would be essential for humans to survive on the red planet, according to Hillarys and Professor Lewis Dartnell, of the University of Westminster.

With companies such as Space X and NASA competing to be first to land on Mars, Hillarys said it is "only a matter of time before people consider living up there".

The predictions for Martian dwellings are:

1. Airlock front door as the atmosphere is thinner on Mars.

2. Storage for spacesuits.

3. Home gym to counteract muscle wastage.

4. Machinery room to generate oxygen and recycle water.

5. Bathroom enabling urine to be purified and added back into the home’s water supply.

6. Small bedroom because of pressurised structures.

7. Kitchen, dining and entertainment room.

8. Small light shaft to let in sunlight but not too much radiation

9. Greenhouse.

10. Solar panels.

For more, see www.hillarys.co.uk/static/home-on-mars/