Mars: Prospective Energy and Material Resources
by Viorel Badescu
Springer | February 2010 | ISBN-10: 3642036287 | PDF | 695 pages | 19.2 mb
http://www.amazon.com/Mars-Prospective-Energy-Material-Resources/dp/3642036287
The manned mission is seen as a first step towards a Mars surface exploration base-station and, later, establishing permanent settlement. The location and use of Mars’s natural resources is vital to enable cost-effective long-duration human exploration and exploitation missions as well as subsequent human colonization. Planet resources include various crust-lodged materials, a low-pressure natural atmosphere, assorted forms of utilizable energy, lower gravity than Earth’s, and ground placement advantages relative to human operability and living standards. Power resources may include using solar and wind energy, importation of nuclear reactors and the harvesting of geothermal potential.
In fact, a new branch of human civilization could be established permanently on Mars in the next century. But, meantime, an inventory and proper social assessment of Mars’s prospective energy and material resources is required. This book investigates the possibilities and limitations of various systems supplying manned bases on Mars with energy and other vital resources. The book collects together recent proposals and innovative options and solutions. It is a useful source of condensed information for specialists involved in current and impending Mars-related activities and a good starting point for young researchers.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Power System Options for Mars Surface Exploration: Past, Present and Future . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2 Available Solar Energy and Weather Forecasting on Mars Surface . .. . . . . . . 25
Chapter 3 Weather Influence on PV Solar Cells Operation on Mars . . . . 67
Chapter 4 Electric Power Generation on Mars Using Photovoltaic Helium Balloons . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 5 Weather Influence on Solar Thermal Power Plants Operation on Mars . . . .. . . . . . . . . 99
Chapter 6 Fuel Cell Power System Options for Mars Surface Mission Elements . . . . . . . . . . 139
Chapter 7 The Evolution of Nuclear Power Generation for Mars . . . . . . . 175
Chapter 8 Distributed Power Sources for Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Chapter 9 Advanced Nuclear Compact Structures for Power Generation on Mars . . . . . . . . 241
Chapter 10 New Solutions for Nuclear Energy and Flights on Mars . . . . . . 287
Chapter 11 Geothermal Energy on Mars . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 331
Chapter 12 Comparative Analysis of Power System Architectures: The Case of Human Mars Surface Missions. . . . . . . . 351
Chapter 13 Economics of Energy on Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Chapter 14 Tumbleweed: A New Paradigm for Surveying the Surface of Mars for In-situ Resources . . . . . 401
Chapter 15 Drilling and Excavation for Construction and In-Situ Resource Utilization . . . . . . 431
Chapter 16 In Situ Utilization of Indigenous Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Chapter 17 Available Resources and Energy Sources from Mars Rock and Soil . . . . . . . . . 483
Chapter 18 On-Site Resources Availability for Space Agriculture on Mars . . . . . . . . . 517
Chapter 19 Utilization of Regolith for Manufacturing Construction Material on Mars . .. . . . . . . 543
Chapter 20 Perspectives on the Utilization of Martian Iron and Carbon Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Chapter 21 Mars Aqueous Processing System . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Chapter 22 Fundamentals of Human Physical Growth on Mars . . . . . . . . . . 587
Chapter 23 Artificial Environments on Mars . . . . . . . . . 599
Chapter 24 Self-sustaining Martian Colonies Utilizing the North Polar Ice Cap and the Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . 627
Chapter 25 Mars Climate Engineering Using Orbiting Solar Reflectors . . . . . . . 645
Chapter 26 Ecopoiesis and Liquid Water Transportation on Mars . . . . . . . . 661
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . 685