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#1 2023-01-13 14:24:40

tahanson43206
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Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,298

Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

A discussion with Terraformer in a topic about Abundance is the inspiration for this topic.

We had at topic with the word "kitchen" but that topic was about small homes that include a kitchen.

Homes/habitats on Mars are certainly going to include food preparation areas, and they might as well be called kitchens there as they are here on Earth.

This topic is available for NewMars members who would like to venture guesses (or make recommendations) about what appliances and practices would work best on Mars.

It is stipulated that the atmosphere recommended by RobertDyck for Large Ship is the standard for Mars habitats.

This atmosphere follows the easy-to-remember 3-5-8 rule.

3 parts Oxygen, 5 parts Inert gas, for 8 PSI (1/2 of Earth)

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#2 2023-01-13 15:15:27

Terraformer
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From: Ceres
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,821
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Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

Well, we're certainly not going to be boiling anything open top. Not only is the pressure too low for that, I wouldn't want to be sloshing scalding water around in 2/5th g. Cooking is going to be done in sealed appliances.

It'll also be fully electric. There's no natural gas -- well, there is, but you have to bring your own oxygen. Gas stoves aren't going to be a thing. Stoves may not be a thing; the same sloshing problem will apply to trying to cook things in a pan. Maybe the occassional one for pancake day, but slow cooking and grilling and microwaving will be the main methods of preparation.

Cafeterias will be common for a good while, so there'll be a lot of emphasis on speedy cooking. Labour is expensive, the colony won't want to pay for more cooks than they need.


"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." - If this forum was a Mars Colony

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#3 2023-01-13 18:30:49

tahanson43206
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Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,298

Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ina-gar … 24509.html

The article at the link above includes pricing information.

The intent of this post is to bring an offering of slow cookers into the discussion.

It would be helpful for this topic to include links (and some text) about cooking with success at high elevations.

One of Ina Garten's fave cookware brands, All-Clad, is on sale at Nordstrom — up to 50% off
Rebecca Carhart
Fri, January 13, 2023 at 5:25 PM EST
This professional-grade brand rarely goes on sale! (Photo: Nordstrom)
How quickly should you grab these deals on All-Clad cookware? Ina heartbeat! (Photo: Nordstrom)
If you’ve watched Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa on TV or read any of her cookbooks, you know she knows her way around the kitchen. That’s why we trust her implicitly when it comes to her recommendations on cookware. One of her favorite brands, All-Clad, is known for making premium products that last. Of course, high-quality cookware doesn't come cheap, which is why we were so excited to see a few pieces from the beloved brand currently on sale at Nordstrom — up to 50% off! If you’re looking to upgrade your pots and pans or invest in a slow cooker, now is the time.

Nordstrom
All-Clad Gourmet 5-Quart Slow Cooker

Slow cookers are staples in many kitchens, but they can be pricey. Right now, though, this one is tres affordable at 50% off. It does the tasks of four kitchen appliances: slow cooker, browner, rice maker and steamer.

Along with the slow cooker base, insert and lid, this handy appliance also comes with a steam basket and measuring cup to help you whip up your favorite meals with ease. It holds up to five quarts at a time and it has an easy-to-read LCD screen and a nonstick coating inside to make cleanup a breeze.

Nordstrom
All-Clad Essentials 10-Piece Nonstick Stainless Steel Cookware Set

Quite simply, this set comes with everything you'll ever need, every piece made with nonstick stainless steel and built to last.

This popular ensemble includes an 8-inch fry pan, a 10-inch fry pan, a 2-quart saucepan with a lid, a 3-quart saucepan with a lid, a 3-quart sauté pan with a lid and an 8-quart stockpot with lid. It's compatible with all cooktops and it's incredibly easy to clean — just use mild soap and water while hand washing!

Nordstrom
All-Clad 4-Quart Slow Cooker With Aluminum Insert

Got a small household? This four-quart option may be just the ticket. Even better, it’s half off right now.

You can program the slow cooker for up to 26 hours at a time, and it comes with three different cook settings: low temperature, high temperature and warming mode. Once it finishes cooking your meal at the programmed time, it will automatically switch to warming mode to keep your food at the ideal serving temp. What’s more, the black aluminum insert is removable and dishwasher-safe.

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

Originally published Fri, January 13, 2023 at 5:24 PM EST

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#4 2023-01-14 09:59:51

SpaceNut
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Posts: 28,958

Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

Low pressure will require some things to cook longer, need boiler pan covers to increase internal pressure, refrigeration and a stove will be unchanged being electrical, crook pots will be in use I am sure as well as many microwaves.

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#5 2023-01-14 11:58:18

tahanson43206
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Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,298

Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

https://reviewed.usatoday.com/ovens/fea … gh-science

Following Terraformer's enthusiasm for induction cooking, I looked for an article that explains the technology in some depth.

OVENS & RANGES
INDUCTION COOKING—HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THE SWITCH

Induction cooking is superior to gas and electric in many ways. And it's finally trending in the U.S.

Bosch induction cooktop with chicken cooking on metal pan.Credit: Bosch
Tyler Wells Lynch
Cindy Bailen
Written by Tyler Wells Lynch and Cindy Bailen
Updated January 12, 2023

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

Induction cooking has been a steadily-growing kitchen trend for years now, and in some places it's far more than a trend. Why the popularity?

Induction cooktops are masters of the quick change—gentle enough to melt butter and chocolate, but powerful enough to bring 48 ounces of water to a boil in under three minutes.

Plus, with growing conversations about banning gas stoves due to safety and environmental concerns, induction is becoming an even more appealing alternative.

Although the induction cooking technology is already popular in other countries, it was a hard sell until recent years in the United States. However, growing consumer awareness is helping ranges and cooktops with this superior cooking technology gain a foothold.

What is induction cooking?

Electromagnetic coils under an induction cooktop

Credit: Bosch

Take a look under the hood of an induction cooktop and you'll see the electromagnetic coils that interact with the iron in your cookware, creating heat.

Although they resemble electric smooth-top burners, induction cooktops don't have burners underneath the surface. Induction cooking uses electromagnetic energy to heat pots and pans directly. In comparison, gas and electric cooktops heat indirectly, using a burner or heating element, and passing radiant energy onto your food.

As you can imagine, it's far more efficient to heat cookware directly instead of indirectly. Induction is able to deliver roughly 80% to 90% of its electromagnetic energy to the food in the pan. Compare that to gas, which converts a mere 38% of its energy, and electric, which can only manage roughly 70%.

That means induction cooktops not only heat up much faster, but their temperature controls are far more precise. "It's an instantaneous reaction in the cookware," says Robert McKechnie, product development manager at Electrolux. "With radiant, you don't get that."

Induction cooktops can achieve a wide range of temperatures, and they take far less time to boil than their electric or gas counterparts. In addition, the cooktop surface stays cool, so you don't have to worry about burning your hand. It's even possible to put a paper towel between a spattering frying pan and an induction burner, though you’d want to keep an eye on that. Remember, the cooktop doesn't get hot, but the pan does.

On almost all counts, induction is faster, safer, cleaner, and more efficient than either gas or electric. And yes, we've done exhaustive oven testing in our labs to support that claim.

Why is induction better?

A piece of chocolate on an induction burner that is intact on the cooktop but melted in the pan.
Credit: Electrolux

Induction "burners" don't get hot to the touch, so don't worry about burning your fingers.

At Reviewed, we've rigorously tested the majority of top-selling cooktops and ranges on the market—including many induction models. Let's dig into the numbers.

In our labs, we record the time it takes each burner to bring a pint of water to boiling temperature. Among all the gas ranges we've tested, the average time-to-boil is 124 seconds, while radiant electric cooktops average 130 seconds—a barely noticeable difference for most users. But induction is the clear speed king, averaging a blistering 70 seconds—. And the newest induction cooktops can boil even faster.

In the course of testing, we also compile data on the temperature ranges of gas, electric, and induction burners. On average, induction cooktops reach a maximum temperature of 643°F, compared to just 442°F for gas. While radiant electric cooktops can get hotter—753°F on average—they take a lot longer to cool down when switching from high to low heat.

Induction ranges have no problem cooking low and slow, either. Turn an induction "burner" down, and—on average—it goes low as 100.75°F—and newer induction cooktops and ranges can go even lower. Compare that to gas cooktops, which can only get down to 126.56°F.

While we've found that radiant electric cooktops can get down to as low as 106°F, they lack the precise temperature control required for more delicate tasks. For induction, it's no problem. Induction’s direct heating doesn't fluctuate, so you can maintain a steady simmer without burning the food.

With induction, you don't have to spend too much time cleaning up. Since the cooktop itself doesn't get hot, it's easy to clean. "You don't get a lot of baked-on food when you're cooking," says Paul Bristow, product manager for cooktops at GE Appliances.

Why isn’t induction mainstream yet?

Induction is already popular in Europe. And its popularity is growing in the U.S. According to home remodeling experts Sebring Design Build, interest in commercial gas ranges seems to be fading, while more kitchen renos include induction cooktops.

GE Appliances Bristow says, "If you go back to 2008, induction was around 5% of the electric cooktop market, but over time it's slowly grown to around 15%." (Note that since induction relies on electricity, cooktops using the technology are classified alongside radiant electric.)

"I really do think that over time, and as costs come down, and as people become more aware of it, induction will grow to a much larger part of the market."

Will my pots and pans work on an induction cooktop?

Three pieces of stainless steel cookware on induction cooktop

Credit: Frigidaire

An induction range can only use iron or some stainless steel pots and pans. You can test your existing cookware with magnets. If a magnet sticks, the pot or pan will work on an induction range.

Cookware concerns may be one issue stopping some Americans from adopting induction cooking. Because induction relies on electromagnetism, only pots with magnetic bottoms—steel and iron—can transfer heat.

But that doesn’t mean you need to buy all-new cookware. If a magnet sticks to the bottom, your pots and pans will work with induction. (If you do need some new cookware, the winners of our best stainless steel skillets roundup are all induction-friendly.)

"There's a lot of misunderstanding about special pans," Bristow says. "Yeah, the bases have to be magnetic, but there's a lot of cookware out there now that supplies that demand. And the fact is, they're not specific to induction, so you can use those pans on other fuels."

Price has been another big stumbling block. While induction ranges still claim a smaller portion of the overall market, they are becoming more affordable. That alone may convince homeowners who have been sitting on the fence.

The Frigidaire Gallery FGIH3047VF induction range, for example, retails for $1,499.99.

A variety of manufacturers have introduced induction ranges, signifying their confidence in adoption rates in the U.S. Many have added appealing features like Auto-Sizing Pan Detection, where the range automatically detects the pan’s footprint, and heats only the area making contact.

For instance, Bosch's FlexInduction technology in its Benchmark series of induction cooktops allows you to combine cooking zones to adapt to the size, shape, and location of the cookware you're using.

Samsung induction cooktops show a blue "virtual flame", reassuring if you're used to cooking with gas.

Credit: Samsung

You have more control over temperature on an induction cooktop than you have with a gas cooktop, but there is a learning curve. Samsung induction cooktops show a blue "virtual flame", which can help a new user visualize the amount of heat going to the pan.

Recognizing the consumer’s reliance on visual cues, Samsung offers LED lighting on its induction ranges, a feature that creates a bright blue "virtual flame."

The future of induction

Since the science proves that induction cooking is faster, safer, and more efficient than gas or electric, why the hesitation? As McKechnie pointed out, microwave ovens suffered from a similarly slow adoption rate through the 1970s, for precisely the same reason: People just didn't understand the science behind microwave cooking, or how it could benefit them.

Ultimately, it was the introduction of PR-friendly cooking demos, TV shows, and microwave dealerships that helped the technology take off. Induction cooking may require a similar strategy.

If that's the case, McKechnie thinks a bit of strategic rebranding might go a long way. "The word 'induction' doesn't help," he explained. "That's the scientific name—it's induction field technology—but a lot of people can't really relate to it. The nomenclature could probably use some help."

Still have questions? See our entire Induction 101 series and get answers.

Related content
A pot of water boils quickly on a convection range
FEATURE
No stupid questions—what real people want to know about induction cooking
Will my pots, pans, and cookware work with induction?
FEATURE
Will my pots and pans work with induction?
The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

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#6 2023-02-28 11:53:54

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,313

Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

How Do Gas Stoves Affect Health and Indoor Air Quality?

https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/top … l-wennberg

What Is the Kitchen Like on the International Space Station?
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/583 … ce-station

The International Space Station (ISS) does not really have a "kitchen" as many of us here on Earth might relate to. But, there is an area called the "galley" which serves the purpose of allowing for food preparation and consumption. I believe the term "galley" comes from the military, and it was used specifically in the space shuttle program. I guess it carried over to the ISS.

I'm a cook at one of Antarctica's research stations.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr … rvive-cold

Jessica Barder is no stranger to a "polar vortex". She's a production cook at McMurdo Station, one of three research stations operated by the National Science Foundation's US Antarctic Program (USAP) and the largest on the continent. This is her second summer in Antarctica, and she will spend the winter on the continent as well at the USAP station at the South Pole. Prior to Antarctica, she worked in restaurants and catering. She blogs about her experience at Cooking on Ice. Leave questions for Jessica below and she'll answer them before her next shift.
1. What's your typical day like in Antarctica?

A typical day very much depends on where you work – in addition to the research scientists, there are a variety of other support staff on station who work as carpenters, plumbers, IT techs, and waste handlers. The kitchen where I work prepares four meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight lunch for people working night shift) for a summer population of around 850 to 900. We are the only place to get meals on station so we're kept busy!

I work the dinner shift, which starts at 10:00 and goes until 20:00, so here's how my day goes: I wake up around 7am and shuffle across the street to the galley for coffee and maybe some cold cereal. Then I'll head to the "gerbil gym" for a run or a bike ride on the stationary equipment. I come home for a little yoga and then shower and change and head back to the galley to start my shift.

Every work day starts with a production meeting – the four production cooks and the one sous chef for our shift gather together and have coffee and discuss what's on our menu for the day, who will make which dish, and what prep we need to get done for the days ahead. Every meal offers 1-2 entrées, a separate vegetarian entrée, a starch, a vegetable, and any sauces or extras we have time to make that we think would enhance the meal. Our shift also likes to put out any leftovers we have from previous nights to reduce waste since EVERYTHING we throw away must be shipped off the continent and that costs money.

When I head home, I usually nap for an hour and then get up, shower, put on nice clothes and head to one of our two bars or our Coffee House to meet up with friends, and even though it'll be after 9pm, the sun is still blazing. We have trivia nights, karaoke nights, open mic nights, live bands, science lectures, and some people take fencing or Latin from other people on station – there's quite a bit to do in your off-hours.

Researchers at This Base in Antarctica Eat Better Than You Do
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/f … antarctica
And the chef does it with just one food shipment a year.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-02-28 12:01:12)

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#7 2023-03-02 13:16:22

RobertDyck
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From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,813
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Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

tahanson43206 wrote:

It is stipulated that the atmosphere recommended by RobertDyck for Large Ship is the standard for Mars habitats.

This atmosphere follows the easy-to-remember 3-5-8 rule.

3 parts Oxygen, 5 parts Inert gas, for 8 PSI (1/2 of Earth)

To be picky, that's very close but I'll give more precise description.

I said space suits would use 3.0 psi pure oxygen. And reminder, all spacesuits use pure oxygen: Mercury/Gemini/Apollo/Skylab, and the white EMU suit used on Shuttle and now ISS. Pressures vary, but they're all pure oxygen. After astronauts breathe in the suits for a while, the gas in the suit becomes mostly oxygen with a little CO2 from exhaled breath, as well as some humidity (water vapour) from sweat and exhaled breath. But it starts as pure oxygen.

The habitat will have 2.7 psi oxygen. If a spacesuit suffers a 10% pressure leak, astronauts/settlers will still breathe the same amount of oxygen as the habitat, so the same as they're used to. This rule is take from Apollo. Before the Apollo 1 fire, NASA planned to use 3.0 psi pure oxygen for the capsule aka Command and Service Module (CSM), but 3.3 psi for the suit. They changed that to 5.0 psi pure oxygen for the CSM, and 3.6 psi for the suit. But 3.0 psi pure oxygen still works.

Partial pressure of oxygen on Earth at sea level is 3.0782 psi. To calculate that: Earth's atmosphere is 20.946% oxygen, and pressure at sea level is 1 atmosphere = 1.01325 bar = 1013.25 millibar = 101,325 Pascals = 14.69595 psi. Outdoor pressure at higher altitude is lower, at Boulder Colorado partial pressure of oxygen is 2.54 psi. So the habitat pressure that I am recommending is lower than sea level, but higher than Boulder. The Mars Society was founded in Boulder, and conventions held there many years.

The rule from SCUBA diving is partial pressure of nitrogen in the higher pressure environment must be no more than 1.2 times total pressure of the lower pressure environment. That's to ensure zero prebreathe time. This allows a settler to get in a spacesuit, go through the airlock and step outside at any time. No prebreathe required. NASA's Space Shuttle operated at 1 atmosphere and the EMU suit uses 4.3 psi pure oxygen. Decompression to EMU suit pressure required 17 hours of breathing pure oxygen to flush nitrogen out of the astronaut's blood to prevent the bends. We want settlers to be able to go outside at any time, so no prebreathe. Since the suit will use 3.0 psi total pressure, maximum nitrogen in the habitat will be 3.6 psi. As a safety margin I recommend dropping nitrogen a little. 3.5 psi should be enough.

So 2.7 psi oxygen + 3.5 psi nitrogen + enough argon and CO2 and humidity to total 1/2 atmosphere pressure. Half an atmosphere is 7.347975 psi, so subtract O2 & N2, 1.147975 psi of other gasses. Or do you want to add enough argon so total pressure is 8 psi? Earth's atmosphere is 0.9340% argon so 0.13726 psi partial pressure. However, NAVY divers sometimes use a tri-gas mix of oxygen/nitrogen/argon to allow them to dive deeper. This increases argon above Earth's ambient. It's just an inert gas. There's a maximum before you have to prebreathe to flush it out of your blood before decompression, but that max is similar to nitrogen. The only side effect of breathing argon is it changes the timber of your voice; it sounds lower. Just as helium makes your voice sound higher, argon makes it sound a little lower. The effect is not as much as sulphur hexafluoride, but it happens.

Anyway, rule of thumb. Let's use 8 psi habitat pressure. Water boils at 100°C (212°F) at 1 atmosphere pressure. Water boils at 94.68°C (202.4°F) at Boulder Colorado. Water boils at 83.45°C (182.2°F) at 8 psi pressure. (boiling point calculator)

8 psi = 55,158 Pascals = 55.158 kPa. If you want a round number in metric, you could use 55 kPa total pressure. In that pressure water boils at 83.38°C (182.08°F).

Adding salt will increase boiling temperature. (reference) At 1 atmosphere, 20 grams of salt added to 5 litres of water (1.32 US gallons) will increase boiling temperature to 100.04°C (212.072°F). So that's not much. 1 US teaspoon of salt masses 5.69 grams. 1 US quart = 0.946353 litres, so the same temperature increase requires 3.785412 grams per US quart. That's 0.6652745 teaspoons salt; round for significant figures = 2/3 teaspoon salt per quart. Adding salt would require a lot to increase boiling temperature significantly.

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#8 2023-03-02 13:30:59

RobertDyck
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From: Winnipeg, Canada
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Posts: 7,813
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Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

I believe kitchens on Mars will be pretty much the same as Earth. Stove, oven, microwave oven, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher. Stove cooktop and oven will be electric, not gas, because habitat air requires recycling oxygen. Will that mean electro-resistive elements (aka electric elements) or will that be induction? That's a detail that won't matter on Mars any more than it does on Earth. There are some fancy appliances on Earth that not all kitchens have: convection oven, toaster oven, crock-pot. If you use them on Earth, then use them on Mars. I don't have any of those. Some small appliances are very common on Earth, and would be on Mars as well: toaster, kettle, drip coffee maker. A pressure cooker will be present in practically every Mars kitchen; not required for all dishes, but will be required for some. Which? I don't know.

Regular pressure cooker that sits on a stove element, or electric pressure cooker? I suspect pressure cookers will be so common on Mars that an electric pressure cooker that can be programmed will be used. With automatic pressure control, such units today act as crock pot, steamer, rice maker, etc.

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#9 2023-03-03 07:11:45

Calliban
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From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,449

Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

I agree pressure cookers are likely to be more ubiquitous on Mars.  The vapour pressure of water at 0.5 bar is 82°C.  You can still cook safely at those temperatures, but it takes longer.  Baking at reduced atmospheric pressure will tend to dry food out more quickly.  But it could still work.

Martian living space is going to be more compact, because all habitable space must be in a pressure vessel.  Keeping warm favours more compact and collectivised arrangements as well.  I think there will be a strong incentive for cohousing.  Some parts of living areas will be private, others shared.  Cooking tends to be a communal activity in cohousing.  Cooking becomes more energy efficient as scale increases.

Electricity is the most efficient mechanism for transmission of power on Earth.  But it requires a lot of infrastructure that is complex and difficult to make.  I think there is a case for power transmission using hydraulics or compressed air on Mars.  Both pressurised water and compressed air are technically very easy.  And the motors that convert these sources back into mechanical power are simple impellors.  So air or water tools are easy to make.  Equipment releasing compressed air can be part of a habitats air scrubbing system.  Equipment bleeds new air in as it operates.  Dirty air is pushed out and sent to the agriculture domes.

Mars has only half the solar flux of Earth.  But it is sunny most days, outside of dust storms.  Using concentrated solar heat for cooking and water heating may be a good option.  It is easier to do this if the collector is scaled up and cooking and wash facilities are communal.  The low atmospheric pressure and dry conditions on Mars make fine regolith an excellant insulator.  We can therefore store heat for long periods in water tanks and hot rock, quite cheaply.  But thermal storage becomes more efficient as scale increases. 

One way of keeping the power on during dust storms on Mars would be to have a pit full of hot crushed rock, capped off and pressurised with CO2.  The pit would be heated using solar collectors, which would blow pressurised CO2 through the steel tubes of trough collectors.  Heat is withdrawn from the hot rock using an oil filled heat exchanger.  This transfers heat to an oil-steam heat exchanger, which then raises steam to generate power.  The powerplant would operate continuously 24/7.  When a dust storm hits and solar intensity goes to zero, the heat exchanger would continue drawing heat out of the hot rock.  Steam quality would gradually drop as temperature drops.  But the rock pit could be sized to store weeks of power in the form of heat.  On Mars, conditions are generally quite dry.  Maybe we could use a hill or rocky outcrop as a natural thermal store.  The upper regolith would serve as insulation.

Last edited by Calliban (2023-03-03 07:44:31)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#10 2023-03-03 17:17:29

RobertDyck
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From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,813
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Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

How does hydraulics or compressed air have less infrastructure than electricity? Electricity only requires copper wire to transmit. Long distance power lines use aluminum wire at high voltage and reduce current. Transmission over hundreds of kilometres is typically done with 300,000 volts. One reason is current must be low for aluminum; too much current will result in heating the wire, which will increase resistance, which will cause more power to be lost to heating, which will heat the wire more, etc. With aluminum, it can become a cascade problem until the wire melts. In Manitoba where power is transmitted over a thousand kilometres, they use high voltage DC instead of 300,000 volt AC. To avoid power loss with DC, you must keep current very very low. With AC there is less power loss due to wire heating, but there's also power loss due to EM. High voltage DC over a thousand km uses 1 million volts. On Mars do we need power transmission over those distances? Do we need enough power for a metropolitan area with multiple cities and over a million people? Once population is that large, I don't think infrastructure will be that much of a concern.

The International Space Station has a population of 6, which can temporarily grow to 9. ISS uses electricity. I don't think we have to worry about infrastructure for electricity.

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#11 2024-04-19 09:32:25

tahanson43206
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Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,298

Re: Kitchen Design / Appliances / Practices for Mars

Picking up on the theme of this topic >> Kitchen Design >>> Practices for Mars....

There is an entire new topic set up at the Azure phpBB3 NewMars test site, dedicated to kitchens/cooking on Large Ship and Mars.

The atmosphere specification is to follow the recommended 3-5-8 pattern laid down by RobertDyck some years ago.

It is possible for a well-endowed institution, such as a University, to create a test kitchen set up with the 3-5-8 atmosphere.

While gravity will be greater than on Large Ship or on Mars, that should not be a major factor in the success of cooking practice in a test kitchen.

Atmosphere, on the other hand, ** will ** most certainly have an effect, and these will be similar to cooking at high elevation but not the same, because Oxygen will be maintained at Earth normal levels.

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