What Mars lacks is a source of power. The solar incidence may be too weak to support much of anything. No fissile materials have yet been discovered there.
> What Mars lacks is a source of power. The solar incidence may be too weak to support much of anything.
Says who? The solar constant on Earth is about 1360 W/m².
Due to the atmosphere, only about 1025 W/m² actually get to the surface.
Mars, just from applying the inverse-square law has an average solar constant of about 589 W/m². Due to the lack of clouds and thin atmosphere, most of that reaches the surface.
So basically you get more than half the energy per unit area than on Earth. Coupled with batteries or power-to-gas and even wind power, I see no major power problem on Mars.
It's not as if there's a lack of usable land for solar arrays or big stacks of batteries on Mars...
The battery issue really cuts against most places on the Moon. Getting through 12 hours of night is a lot easier than getting through 2 weeks of night. There is the peak of eternal sunlight on the Moon's south pole where the sun marches around the horizon forever[1] but the lunar night is a big challenge everywhere else.
[1] And right next to an eternally shadowed crater we know has hydrogen, probably in water.
Says who? The solar constant on Earth is about 1360 W/m².
Due to the atmosphere, only about 1025 W/m² actually get to the surface.
Mars, just from applying the inverse-square law has an average solar constant of about 589 W/m². Due to the lack of clouds and thin atmosphere, most of that reaches the surface.
So basically you get more than half the energy per unit area than on Earth. Coupled with batteries or power-to-gas and even wind power, I see no major power problem on Mars.
It's not as if there's a lack of usable land for solar arrays or big stacks of batteries on Mars...