New Mars Forums

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

Having Fusion Reactors on Mars might no longer be a science fiction story of the far future?
https://interestingengineering.com/nucl … sma-record
'A nuclear fusion device pushes plasma to a record-breaking 100 million degrees'

Scientists want to farm oxygen from the Martian soil
https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/oxyg … tian-soil/

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-03-12 07:30:47)

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

NASA wants to put nuclear reactor on the moon, hopes to support lunar life
https://nypost.com/2022/06/26/nasa-want … -the-moon/
The space agency and the US Department of Energy have selected three design concept proposals

A Deep Dive Into Why China Still Believes In Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles - The Autopian
https://www.theautopian.com/a-deep-dive … d-vehicles

Electricity generation, it might be one day exotic science like Fusion, it could be Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, the many methods making of electricity for use by machine, people, robots. For now it mostly comes from rotary electrical generators turned by various power engines. Electrochemistry is the direct transformation of chemical energy into electricity, as in a battery. Electrochemical electricity generation is important in portable and mobile applications, engines, battery and even power plants might one day all be transportable on Mars. Electrochemical power comes from batteries, cells, such as the common zinc–carbon batteries are power sources directly, but secondary rechargeable cells  batteries can used for storage systems rather than primary generation systems. Open electrochemical systems, known as fuel cells, can be used to extract power either from natural fuels or from synthesized fuels. Unlike the solar heat concentrates, photovoltaic panels convert direct sunlight directly to electricity. Although sunlight is free, solar panels are an expensive product to send all the way to Mars, a lot of money to make and dust will damage the Solar power output. With access to other chemistry and farming and liquids here is a chemical to power process and Osmotic power is a possibility at places where salt and fresh water merge, many break through are happening each month now with new records being set in 'Fusion' tech while current Nuclear power plants create electricity through the process of nuclear fission.

Space Bubbles: Because If We Won't Stop Burning Fossil Fuels, We Better Have A Backup
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/06/20/sp … ckup-plan/

Architect Carlo Ratti and a group of MIT researchers are exploring the feasibility of cooling the Earth with a conglomeration of “space bubbles” that would reflect the sun’s rays away from the planet below and send them into deep space. What they call the Space Bubbles project proposes floating a “raft” made of frozen bubbles at the L1 Lagrangian Point, about 1.5 million kilometers above the Earth. That’s the place between the Earth and the sun where their gravitational pulls cancel each other out and objects could float for eternity in splendid equipoise. The bubbles would be made of a thin film material and manufactured in space where, when interconnected, they would cover an area roughly the size of Brazil, according to Dezeen.

Renewables Become Leader in Grid Resilience: Decentralized Approach to Disaster Recovery
https://twitter.com/Zxcxz_xyz/status/15 … 8521889792
Hyundai CE Introducing Hydrogen
https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/hyundai … s-in-2023/

Pee-powered vehicles are finally making a splash
https://thenextweb.com/news/ammonia-is- … t-vehicles

Should have used more nails?
How Many Potatoes Does It Take To Run video game DOOM?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFDlVgBMomQ

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-06-26 09:51:50)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,368

Re: Power generation on Mars

For Mars_B4_Moon re #177

Thanks for the link to the work at MIT on "space bubbles" at L1.

That's one of the more interesting proposals that have shown up.

The Mars analog is the reverse .... a structure at the Mars L1 might be designed to increase the flow of photons.

That would be a "huge" convex lens, for sure!

It might be more practical to set up convex lens that are smaller, and just make a lot of them.

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

Small nuclear reactors finally get US approval, but they still have a lot to prove

https://www.fastcompany.com/90777719/ne … ving-to-do

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Power generation on Mars

Steam power in enclosed spaces may be possible
https://youtu.be/J7CDvOgOTvY

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

Power Storage

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5q08KJ5MvgbFXKz1y9DhIq

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

The elments have impacted the Chinese Rover mission

maybe China's Rover can wake up if wind cleans it and it gets a warmer summer?

'no updates of Zhurong from CNSA, but finally we have someone from the research team and close to the space administration spoke up. Professor XU Yo of Macau University: Zhurong is covered with sand and dust'
https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/statu … 5665420288

NASA satellite orbiter photos also previously confirmed the Rover is almost the same color as Mars itself

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-03-14 17:57:35)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Power generation on Mars

Not good to go it with only solar.

On another note, I am having a hard time calculating all forms of energy that we use back into a single common energy type such as KWhrs. Since we use power or energy in mostly peaks where the average is taken as a daily consumed no matter in what form we use.

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies
https://www.geekwire.com/2023/darpa-and … ar-rocket/

The Nuclear Thermal Rocket That Could Get Us to Mars in Just 45 Days
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/ … n-45-days/

Making Martian rocket biofuel on Mars
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 … 122016.htm
New study outlines biotechnology process to produce rocket fuel on red planet

That perhaps dead China Rover?

So here is an interesting item you will not get much power from this but it seems like the Chinese were warming up their Mars Rover with Hydrocarbon or Liquid alkane hydrocarbon they used Undecane also known as hendecane a liquid alkane hydrocarbon with the chemical formula CH 3 (CH 2) 9 CH 3 alkane hydrocarbon with the chemical formula CH₃(CH₂)₉CH₃. also used as a mild sex attractant for various types of moths and cockroaches.

Zhurong Mars rover has a "hot water bottle". Two skylights, known as heat-collecting windows, are covered with a high-transparency film. Beneath, a material called Undecane melts by day, absorbing heat, and solidifies at night, releasing warmth.

https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/ … 2437042552

Tianwen-1 and Zhurong were successful missions but now the Rover seems dead, killed by Martian 'Dust' perhaps, from the last photos we got to see a significant level of dust on the solar array and mast.

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Power generation on Mars

NASA is Getting the Plutonium it Needs for Future Missions
https://www.universetoday.com/164407/na … -missions/

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) have a long history of service in space exploration. Since the first was tested in space in 1961, RTGs have gone on to be used by 31 NASA missions, including the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Packages (ALSEPs) delivered by the Apollo astronauts to the lunar surface. RTGs have also powered the Viking 1 and 2 missions to Mars, the Ulysses mission to the Sun, Galileo mission to Jupiter, and the Pioneer, Voyager, and New Horizons missions to the outer Solar System – which are currently in (or well on their way to) interstellar space.
In recent years, RTGs have allowed the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers to continue the search for evidence of past (and maybe present) life on Mars. In the coming years, these nuclear batteries will power more astrobiology missions, like the Dragonfly mission that will explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. In recent years, there has been concern that NASA was running low on Plutonium-238, the key component for RTGs. Luckily, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently delivered a large shipment of plutonium oxide, putting it on track to realize its goal of regular production of the radioisotopic materia

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Power generation on Mars

good that it came from our own sources this time