Distributed power sources for mars

Abstract

One of the fundamental needs for Mars colonization is an abundant source of energy (Shaban and Miley 2003). The total energy system will probably use a mixture of sources based on solar energy, fuel cells and nuclear energy. Here we concentrate on the possibility of developing a distributed system employing advanced nuclear energy, specifically a mixture of small fusion devices and low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) cells (Miley 1997; Miley et al. 2002a). The fusion devices would provide small central units in the 500 kWe - 1 MWe level. The LENR units would serve as small portable sources ranging from Watts up to kiloWatts. All units would be designed to minimize radiation emission and radioactive waste. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.