Is it possible to use wind farms on Mars? – The Times Hub

An artistic vision of a wind turbine on Mars/The Mars Society of Canada

Mars is viewed by many as an excellent planet for colonization. And theoretical and practical means are already being developed that would help to survive on the Red Planet.

So far, only relatively small and low-power artificial vehicles Mars rovers and stationary platforms operate on Mars. Scientists at the future base (and then the colonists) will need much more energy. And scientists are looking for methods to extract this energy.

This is how wind turbines look in the computer game Surviving Mars/Photo by Paradox Interactive Forum

Nuclear power can be used on Mars. But this method is quite expensive, technologically complex and probably not suitable for mass use on a distant planet. Another situation is solar panels.

The sun is a constant source of energy that has proven itself both on Earth and beyond. But there are problems with solar energy on the surface of the Red Planet.

The crews of the station on Mars will be able to clean solar panels, but their area must be huge in order to provide power to the base. Therefore, scientists wondered if the power of the Martian wind could be used to generate energy.

Mars before and after the start of a global dust storm/Photo Space

Wind energy is widespread on Earth. On Mars, it would become very auxiliary, especially when a global or local dust storm begins and access to solar energy is very limited.

Our planet has everything it needs to harness wind energy: comfortable atmospheric pressure and powerful winds. But on the Red Planet this is a problem. Winds on Mars blow well, but low atmospheric pressure does not give hope for the use of windmills. Yet the Ingenuity helicopter makes it clear that you can rely on Martian air.

Scientists have calculated that windmills on Mars can also be used. But to ensure the production of 80 kilowatts of energy (the average amount of energy required for the functioning of a hypothetical base), it is necessary to build three windmills with rotor diameters of 50 meters or 142 windmills with a rotor diameter of 10 meters. On Earth, such a task would be easily solved.

But for Mars, it is a very difficult task, because materials for giant wind turbines need to be delivered millions of kilometers away and collected. And for this you need to have qualified workers in a certain number. In addition, appropriate devices are needed, for example, a giant crane all this also needs to be delivered to Mars. As if these disadvantages are not enough, you should know that the main and powerful wind flows blow on the Red Planet during the day and disappear at night, so the constant receipt of energy from the wind is almost impossible.

Well, as you can see, getting energy from winds on Mars are possible, but this process is very energy consuming and expensive. Therefore, perhaps for the first decades, specialists and colonists will use exclusively solar panels.

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Is it possible to use wind farms on Mars? - The Times Hub