As the different human efforts slowly advance towards eventually putting boots on Mars, some scientists are determining the best way to provide power for a base there. Two options are solar panels or a small nuclear reactor, and researchers from the University of California at Berkeley think solar panels are the way to go.

The advantage of nuclear power for a Martian base is they will work 24/7 but are heavy. Solar panels, on the other hand, are lighter but only work during the day when it isn’t too dusty. Mars has frequent dust storms – like what killed the Opportunity rover in 2019 – so solar isn’t the best option at face value.

According to the study, published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science, solar panels are better than nuclear power for over half of the Martian surface, if – and it’s a big if – some of the power is used to produce fuel for fuel cells to cover nights and storms. Reactors are better if the base is closer to the poles which get less sunlight.

The key that the solar panels hinge on over nuclear power is their lower weight and efficiency. Nuclear reactors are heavy, and lifting heavy things off of the planet costs a lot of money and takes up more space. Instead, you could bring a lot of solar panels for the same mass budget and much less cost. Having more panels also means spares when one breaks. You can have fewer more powerful reactors but are down a more significant amount of power if one breaks.

However, the weight savings over solar panels was slight, only about 1.2 metric tons. To further this advantage, the researchers propose using flexible solar panels that can be rolled up for storage and unfolded on Mars.

So now we just have to get boots on the ground, right?

More Information

UC Berkeley press release

“Photovoltaics-Driven Power Production Can Support Human Exploration on Mars,” Anthony J. Abel et al., 2022 April 27, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences