Comparative analysis of surface power system architectures for human Mars exploration

Abstract

This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of surface power generation and energy storage architectures for human Mars surface missions, including tracking and non-tracking photovoltaic power generation, nuclear fission power, dynamic radioisotope power generation, and battery and regenerative fuel cell energy storage. The quantitative analysis is carried out on the basis of equal energy provision to the power system user over one Martian day (including day and night periods); this means that the total amount of energy available to the user will be the same in all cases, but the power profile over the course of the day may be different from concept to concept. The analysis results indicate that solar power systems based on non-tracking, thin-film roll-out arrays with either batteries or regenerative fuel cells for energy storage achieve comparable levels of performance as systems based on nuclear fission power across the entire range of average power levels investigated (up to 200 kW). For solar power systems, deployment and dust mitigation methods were also considered. Possible areas of commonality between Mars surface power systems and more near term lunar surface power systems were investigated. Given the significant policy and sustainability advantages of solar power compared to nuclear fission power, as well as the significant development and performance increase for thin-film photovoltaic arrays and energy storage technologies that is anticipated over the coming decades, solar power as the primary source for human Mars surface power generation should be seriously considered as alternative to traditional nuclear fission based approaches.