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In order to maintain a Colony on Mars, we will need to be able to provide consistent, safe, and sustainable power on the planet. The extremely cold temperature means that the need to maintain temperature in the habitat will require consistent power generation. What are the viable options for a Martian colony to provide this power?

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    $\begingroup$ Nuclear (fission) reactors. Dust won't gather much on vertical cooling radiators. Solar panels require Sun-tracking mechanisms (not reliable) and periodic cleanup, even with all the advances in efficiency. Wind generators in the extremely thin atmosphere won't work. One could try hamsters, though... $\endgroup$ Jul 23, 2013 at 21:21
  • $\begingroup$ @DeerHunter You would need to have someone poke the hamsters with a sharp stick occasionally, though. $\endgroup$
    – user12
    Jul 24, 2013 at 3:58
  • $\begingroup$ @DeerHunter Open cycle CO2 turbine! On Mars there are no regulators to complain. It will be a return to the glory days of the Atomic Age! $\endgroup$
    – AlanSE
    Jul 30, 2013 at 19:04
  • $\begingroup$ @AlanSE - an interesting idea. Wonder about its stability. And, to send something to Mars, you have to test it here :) $\endgroup$ Jul 30, 2013 at 19:12
  • $\begingroup$ If the sun-tracking mechanism of solar panels is not reliable, why should the control rod mechanism of a nuclear fission reactor be substantially more reliable? $\endgroup$
    – Uwe
    Jan 10, 2017 at 11:50

2 Answers 2

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Many life support and mission design questions have answers depending on scale: how large is the colony?

So far viable solutions discussed in Mars mission papers revolve around two major sources of energy:

  • solar (photoelectric panels ) and
  • nuclear (meaning conventional fission reactors on Uranium-235, most likely highly enriched)

Until now, we have faced several challenges as far as photovoltaics are concerned:

  • dust accumulation
  • the need to rotate the panels to track the Sun and corresponding unreliability of any mechanisms with bearings in Martian environment (even with human maintenance)
  • PV decay with time
  • seasonal variations of PV output
  • the need to store energy for consumption at night and the refreshing idea of having to add extra mass to the deliverable goods and to watch out for any problems (including thermal ones) with the batteries (although flywheels will become more efficient as the colony scales)

Nuclear reactors with Brayton cycle turbines do not obviate the need for energy storage, but they have problems of their own:

  • cooling requires large radiators (since they are vertical, no need to worry about the dust)
  • siting (behind berms and in craters) due to the need to shield the colony from neutron flux
  • the choice between refuelling (for large and long-term colonies) and replacement
  • nuclear waste (and reactor) disposal

However, there are two other possible solutions for sufficiently large colonies:

  • solar thermal power plants
  • orbital solar PV power plants which send the energy through microwaves (thus, one doesn't need to provide aeroshields and all the other dead mass needed for landing the plant) - a rather scalable solution, I'd gather.

To re-cap:

  • a colony/habitat will need power generation and storage, no matter what
  • reliability means diversity: for sufficiently large habitats, one would like to have both a reactor and a solar panel field, flywheels and batteries
  • resupplying the colony is a pain due to the need to pinpoint land the cargo, so any energy solutions that don't require landing are really welcome

In my humble opinion, having a nuclear reactor as the main source of energy, flywheels for energy storage, and panels and batteries for backup would provide a conservative starting point for future designs. However, calculations are needed to refine the designs and choose between competing solutions.

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There are a number of options, including nuclear power and even the possibility of solar power (with highly efficient photovoltaic cells - such as those used on the Mars rovers).

A suggestion discussed in "Self-sustaining Mars colonies utilizing the North Polar Cap and the Martian atmosphere." (Powell et al. 2001) is that the colony should be near the northern ice cap, utilising any water ice - separating it into hydrogen and oxygen for power generation. The article suggests that this process could be initiated using nuclear reactors.

From the linked Abstract:

The colonies would be located on the North Polar Cap of Mars and utilize readily available water ice and the CO2 Martian atmosphere as raw materials to produce all of the propellants, fuel, air, water, plastics, food, and other supplies needed by the colony. The colonists would live in thermally insulated large, comfortable habitats under the ice surface, fully shielded from cosmic rays. The habitats and supplies would be produced by a compact, lightweight (~4 metric tons) nuclear powered robotic unit termed ALPH (Atomic Liberation of Propellant and Habitat), which would land 2 years before the colonists arrived. Using a compact, lightweight 5 MW (th) nuclear reactor/steam turbine (1 MW(e)) power source and small process units (e.g., H2O electrolyzer, H2 and O2 liquefiers, methanator, plastic polymerizer, food producer, etc.) ALPH would stockpile many hundreds of tons of supplies in melt cavities under the ice, plus insulated habitats, to be in place and ready for use when the colonists landed.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks I added a quote from the linked abstract. Anyone have a link to the full article that isnt paywalled? Looks like an interesting concept $\endgroup$
    – Chad
    Jul 19, 2013 at 15:04

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