NASA’s Artemis mission is one from which space experts hope to gain insights that they can later implement in preparation for a future trip to Mars.
In this sense, one of the aspects to be dealt with in the next mission to the red planet is around the energy systems that will be used to support the propulsion of the ship to be built for this project, where nuclear energy has been considered as a alternative.
However, a team of researchers from the University of California at Berkeley published an article where they pointed out the viability present in the use of solar energy as a resource to power a human expedition to Mars.
It is worth mentioning that some NASA rover vehicles incorporate a multi-panel solar array, although these only have the capacity to generate a certain amount of energy. 140 watts of power for up to four hours.
However, studies carried out in the last decade on this subject raised arguments in favor of nuclear energy, considering it a better option over solar energy, which was said to solar arrays could prove ineffective passing through areas of space that never receive light. Added to this, the solar panels could present problems when trying to collect enough light once they were inside the surface of Mars.
However, the current study seems to have shed some light on solar power by check the requirements What would it mean to implement this propulsion model compared to the nuclear one?
Some factors were taken into account, such as the absorption and scattering of light in the atmosphere and how these would affect the amount of solar radiation received once it was on the surface of the planet.
In the end, it was determined that a photovoltaic array that stores energy from compressed hydrogen would be the most suitable solution for a mission supported by solar energy, since, although its sustainability is reduced when approaching the equator, this would exceed the fission energy by 50% once it is on the surface of Mars.
This is how the system proposed by the researchers performs the separation of water molecules with the help of electricity to produce hydrogen, which can then be stored in pressurized vessels and there be taken to fuel cells where it would be re-electrified in order to generate the energy that would drive the ship that was sent to the red planet.
