Thursday, April 15, 2021

Solar Power on Mars is a Bust

The InSight lander is in emergency hibernation because of dust on its solar panels, which can't just be cleaned off.

Perseverance is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which is basically a really small nuclear reactor. And the decision was made to avoid this problem.

One of the things we've learned is that you can't use solar power on Mars. Ingenuity is solar powered, but as a tech demo it doesn't have to last long.

For a manned mission, you would be able to clean off the panels, but that would be a waste of valuable time that could be spent doing science.

In other words, for Mars, nuclear power is it. (Before anyone mentions wind, the atmosphere is too thin).

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