Power Generation

[Bob_Herzog]

We saw a lot of solar so question: Will we see major dust storm that on Mars can take weeks and month? And if yes how will we generate power then?

We saw wind power but given that the game states it want to be grounded in the general science around Mars that should be a pitfull amount (thin atmophere). In storms it might be a bit more but still not very much (esspecially since big dust stroms on Mars do not nessearily need to be strong in force).

I saw that you can order certain installations to only work when Solar power is there but that kind of setting + batteries only works for Day/Night cycles and shorter dust storms. A Month long dust storm either demands extreme battery storrage or backup reacotrs.

Weill we see big dust storms?
So will we see Nuclear or Fusion as options for power generation?
Will wind only deliver the for Mars appropriate power yields?

 

[keynes2.0]

Well going by real world constraints, there is a lot of opportunity to reduce power consumption during a dust storm. For example consider oxygen production. A human only needs about a kilogram of oxygen per day. Refueling the rocket over the course of 2 years (time between launch opportunities) should require a lot more oxygen then that. The proposed Big Falcon Rocket for instance has a capacity of 860 tons of liquid oxygen, more then a metric ton per day. So if you had a colony where 20 humans and 1 Big Falcon Rocket were both getting oxygen, the humans are just using 2% of your oxygen production. So if the dust storm hits and you stop putting oxygen into your rocket, you have drastically cut your power consumption. And you might even take oxygen out of the rocket if the problem get's severe. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen or liquid methane would be an abundant source of power and water if you were in dire straits.

 

[WyoJohn]

Bob,

I was wondering about this as well. We put nuclear power in our submarines. Why not put a nuclear reactor on Mars. I know the concern in the past was always with launching nuclear material into orbit and if it exploded in the atmosphere, we'd all be in trouble. There has to be ways around this risk though.

A quick search on the Google machine came up with this real world story: https://www.space.com/37348-nasa-fission-power-mars-colony.html

NASA to Test Fission Power for Future Mars Colony
By Irene Klotz, Space.com Contributor | June 29, 2017 03:56pm ET

"NASA’s technology development branch has been funding a project called Kilopower for three years, with the aim of demonstrating the system at the Nevada National Security Site near Las Vegas. Testing is due to start in September and end in January 2018....

The units would be launched cold and activated once they reach their destinations.

"They’re not operating at launch, whereas once you fuel an RTG, it’s operating, and you have to process the thermal output," Mason said. "The reactors also have a very low radiological inventory at launch — less than 5 curies — so it’s benign … There are no fission products until the reactor is turned on, and that’s when there will be some radiation."
​

So, there is good reason to think it will be very real tech on Mars... good reason to include it in the game, maybe as a research advancement or upgrade.

John

 

[keynes2.0]

I was wondering about this as well. We put nuclear power in our submarines. Why not put a nuclear reactor on Mars.

A submarine nuclear reactor is way too big to fit on even the largest rockets. Space based nuclear power uses a completely different architecture.