Solar Power More Preferred Than Nuclear Technology on Mars, But Here's The Catch!

Solar power is preferred over nuclear for crewed Martian missions near the planet's equator, according to new research.

Researchers determined that photovoltaic systems might power a six-person journey to Mars, adding to decades of research into the benefits of solar power, which has been used by robotic NASA Mars explorers, including the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the InSight lander.

The study authors also pointed out per Space.com that humans could clean the solar panels on-site, avoiding the dust buildup that has plagued Mars probes in the past.

Rover on Mars Habitat Simulation

(Photo: JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
A robotic rover that is part of a team from Europe and Israel moves during a training mission for planet Mars at a site that simulates an off-site station at the Ramon Crater in Mitzpe Ramon in Israel's southern Negev desert on October 10, 2021. - Six astronauts from Portugal, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Israel will be cut off from the world for a month, from October 4-31, only able leave their habitat in spacesuits as if they were on Mars. Their mission, the AMADEE-20 Mars simulation, will be carried out in a Martian terrestrial analog and directed by a dedicated Mission Support Center in Austria, to conduct experiments ahead of future human and robotic Mars exploration missions.

How Solar Tech Could Light up Mars

According to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the latest solar technology allows photovoltaics for long-term power trips to Mars. A permanent colony could potentially be developed there, according to the team.

UC Berkeley bioengineering doctoral student Aaron Berliner, one of the paper's two first authors, said per Science Daily that photovoltaic energy generation coupled with specific energy storage configurations in molecular hydrogen outweighs nuclear fusion reactor's performance by over 50 percent.

Researchers went on to say that the region is in stark contrast to what has been claimed repeatedly in the literature, namely that it will be powered by nuclear power.

Solar May Help Supplement Necessities On Red Planet

The study "Photovoltaics-driven power production can support human exploration on Mars," published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, compared solar and nuclear technology using a systems approach. This study examined what a six-person prolonged journey to Mars might be like, including a 480-day stay on the planet's surface before returning to Earth.

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Solar is equivalent to or better than nuclear for colony locations covering roughly half of the Martian surface, according to their calculations, when the weight and efficiency of the solar panels are taken into account.

It works as long as some of the colony's daytime energy is used to make hydrogen gas in fuel cells at night or during sandstorms.

Solar energy, on the other hand, must be conserved for use at night, which lasts about the same amount of time on Mars as it does on Earth.

Red Dust on Mars Could Pose Harm to Solar Panels

The Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February 2021 and gathered massive data for future human-led excursions.

The NASA crew investigated a method for producing oxygen while also looking for other resources such as underground water and better landing tactics. On Mars, solar panels successfully powered the Opportunity rover. It was only 15 years old when it stopped working owing to a huge dust storm in 2019. The red dust on the ground is a major impediment to solar technology efficiency.

Co-first author Anthony Abel, a graduate student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, said per Open Access Government that "This paper takes a global view of what power technologies are available and how we might deploy them, what are the best use cases for them and where do they come up short."

"If humanity collectively decides that we want to go to Mars, this kind of systems-level approach is necessary to accomplish it safely and minimize cost in a way that's ethical. We want to have a clear-eyed comparison between options, whether we're deciding which technologies to use, which locations to go to on Mars, how to go and whom to bring," he added.