Big Phoenix
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The Astronomy Thread
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Cybsled
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I haven't heard of anything except solar yet. They don't really have any realistic options currently. Wind doesn't work really, there's no geothermal option, no fossil fuels. A functional nuclear reactor for Mars would be a long ways off I presume and would need to be something that requires little to no water to operate.
Tuco
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Sorry, meant how many times they'll land an unmanned craft on the moon before crewing it.
Tuco
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Big Phoenix
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Zero, the RTGs we use now are form Plutonium weve bought from Russia iirc. We have setup a reactor to make the Plutonium ourselves, but its a single reactor and will be 3-4 years before they have enough for a single RTG.
Heres a few great videos going in depth about the process. Very slow, very costly;
There enough solar power available at Mars surface to support human activity? Whats their plan when a two week dust storm comes along?
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Tuco
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Cybsled
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If they put up enough panels and they are in an ideal location for solar, sure. Initial base will be small. Storms could be a legitimate problem if they last a long time and they have inadequate power storage, although I presume any initial mission is going to have some manner of emergency backups for power.
Solar on Mars is really only the realistic energy solution for the time being. Even if they figure out a nuclear solution for power generation, presumably they will want to figure out a more permanent location for a Mars settlement before delivering a multi-billion dollar reactor.
Mudcrush Durtfeet
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Underground bases are less affected by low temperatures. Low atmosphere pressure will mean far less windchill effect (where heat is carried away by flowing atmosphere).
Solar coupled with batteries to store power seems like an obvious solution, nuclear power plants would work too, but are very heavy.
In an emergency you could take methane from the rocket fuel depot to provide power for a time.
RTGs rely on manufactured plutonium, most of the past supply came from breeder reactions (if I remember correctly) used to make material for nuclear weapon stockpiles. This is _very_ expensive, the plutonium used in RTGs was a by product, not the goal of such reactors.
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Burns
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Here is a lecture video on a modular nuclear reactor, that could work. It fits inside an semi-truck, so maybe they could get the weight low enough to launch it.
Nuclear will probably have a bunch of issues just getting approved for a launch, as any accident could rain radiation on various parts of the ocean/atmosphere.
From David Ruzic, Professor of Engineering, University of Illinois
Nuclear will probably have a bunch of issues just getting approved for a launch, as any accident could rain radiation on various parts of the ocean/atmosphere.
From David Ruzic, Professor of Engineering, University of Illinois
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Big Phoenix
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Im genuinely curious how this works, especially if your plan is to manufacture fuel on Mars which would require significant power even if you send it a year or two ahead to begin processing. Theres half as much sunlight at the Martian surface as there is at Earth and thats not even considering how dusty Mars is which will further reduce solar availability.
Building underground is a huge undertaking and also takes a lot of time.
Probably a lot easier to just cover your habitat with a layer of soil.
Batteries are very heavy and also dont see how they would provide enough power to get you through the week long dust storms that you will have to endure.
Completely overblown as it would be nothing but natural uranium, not the endless fission by products. Environmental retards are gonna doom us to this rock as theres simply no energy source that can power human activity outside of Earth orbit other than nuclear power.
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