The idea of living on Mars or the Moon has been a staple of science fiction since the 19th century. The justification is that we need to go there if we want to create a backup location for humanity, in the event that life on Earth becomes untenable due to issues like climate change. We could also go there to search for additional resources such as water or precious metals. However, if this sci-fi dream were to ever become reality, what would it be like to actually live there? Conditions make living on Mars extremely challenging. In particular, materials needed for such extreme environments need to be discovered and designed. In this talk, we will present an overview and current research on carbide and boride materials for potential uses at extreme environments, including ultra-high and ultra-low temperatures, impact, and radiation. High-entropy carbides and hexaborides will be described in detail, especially in connection to their processing.