The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a plan to colonize Mars by mid-2030s, accordingly it is absolutely vital to provide a sustainable source of energy that is capable of delivering the essential power requirement needed for habitation to take place and thrive. Both the atmosphere and climate of Mars represent a challenge (e.g. the low air density on Mars which is 0.6% of the Earth’s surface density) to harvest sustainable energy efficiently. Additionally, it is not practical to transport from Earth the required energy resources needed for even short-term habitation on the Martian surface. Therefore, an indigenous in-situ energy resource must be utilized to provide the necessary power to support life for all future crewed missions.

 

The two sustainable energy sources for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) with the highest potential for implementation on Mars are solar and wind. Unfortunately, the former cannot provide a reliable continuous source of energy due to multiple reasons. These include global and local dust storms that occur regularly, and cloudy days or night-time which significantly impact solar power production due to a diminished or complete lack of direct sunlight. Furthermore, Mars receives only half the average solar irradiance of Earth (586.2 W/m^2^). These aforementioned hurdles present wind energy as a viable solution, or even as a strong potential complement to solar energy.

 

            The authors thoroughly investigate different sites on Mars by evaluating the available wind resources to select the most feasible location in terms of energy yield and other critical habitability criteria, such as water availability. This work is conducted by applying the General Circulation Model (GCM) simulation, which is a complex mathematical numerical model that computes general circulation of a planetary atmosphere to depict a global climate.

 

In addition, this novel on-going research analyzes the feasibility of wind harvesting on Mars by employing the Mars Climate Database (MCD) model that was developed at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique du CNRS (Paris, France), with the potential application of deploying available mesoscale models to consider local atmospheric phenomena, as well. Moreover, it evaluates different potential wind turbine design concepts applicable for the Martian ISRU. These include, but are not limited to tethered airborne wind turbines, traditional Horizontal Axial Wind Turbines (HAWT), and Vertical Axial Wind Turbines (VAWT). The results of this research lays the foundation for future energy utilization necessary for habitation to thrive, as well as it is a key for future exploration missions. Ultimately, this will expand our knowledge of other planetary atmospheres beyond that attainable on Earth.


Wind Harvesting on Mars: Study and Approach

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace, Bioengineering, Applied Mechanics, Design Engineering Division, Advanced Energy Systems, Manufacturing Engineering Division, Noise Control and Acoustics, Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Prognosis (NDPD), Nuclear Engineering Division, Process Industries Division, Fluids Engineering, Heat Transfer, Materials, Microelectromechanical Systems, Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis, Computers & Information in Engineering


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2020/volume/84478

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