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#1251 Re: Human missions » Musk's plans for Mars » 2016-06-21 03:48:29

wherever it is placed, it needs to be away from steep slopes as they could be subject to landslips and cliff falls. These may be triggered by human activity and must not result in burying of the base.

#1252 Re: Water on Mars » mars-water-discovery-curiosity-rover » 2016-06-21 02:50:51

Thanks, Mr Moderator.
Freezing of water will expel brines but they would need to be removed from beneath the ice to allow it to remain uncontaminated over bllions of years. There may be locations where this has happened, where ice could be mined.

#1253 Re: Planetary transportation » Air breathing engines on Mars » 2016-06-21 02:32:42

Sterling engines work with any heat source of sufficient temperature, eg methanol/ LOx or radio isotopes as well as Silanes/CO2. Also they are not subject to slagging internally, unlike an IC engine of any type.

#1254 Re: Water on Mars » mars-water-discovery-curiosity-rover » 2016-06-20 03:52:00

It's not just a salt solution, if it is there at all. It would be bleach!

#1255 Re: Planetary transportation » Air breathing engines on Mars » 2016-06-20 03:23:44

GW Johnson wrote:

You're going to have a lot of carbonate slag clogging up any imaginable heat engine,  if you use "molten carbonate fuel".  Or a silane burning with CO2.  Same thing may well be true of a fuel cell using that kind of fuel.  I dunno for sure,  but I had some experience with a silicone / magnesium ramjet fuel decades ago,  burning with air.  Fortunately,  the ramjet had no moving parts.  If it had had some,  they would have been slagged solidly immovable.  Good for internal heat protection,  bad for part functionality. 

GW


A Sterling engine would avoid this as its moving parts are in a clean environment and the heat source is external.

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