The second Moon race is in full swing, with the world’s two big superpowers angling to score a new set of firsts on the lunar surface. NASA’s Artemis program recently clocked up its first success with the splashdown of Orion, but China is looking to take the lead when it comes to setting up a fully-fledged lunar research station. One of the first steps in that process – figuring out where to put it. That is what a new paper attempts to quantify, and it comes up with a practical solution – the south pole.
There are plenty of advantages to the lunar south pole. It also checks many of the boxes that the Chinese scientists were looking for when they developed their criteria for potential landing sites.
They broke those criteria into two categories- scientific and engineering constraints. Engineering constraints included considerations like the illumination a site receives, its general slope, and the ease with which explorers could access other parts of the moonscape. Scientific constraints, which this particular paper focuses on, include considerations such as water ice exposure, hydrogen abundance, and temperature.
UT Editor Fraser talks about China’s exploration plans.
The south pole, therefore, seems ideal, given its relative flatness and relatively constant temperature in the permanently shaded regions of some of its craters. Those craters also most likely hold the largest amount of frozen water deposits on the Moon, making access to them an extremely high priority for any permanent base.
It also has access to one of the oldest basins on the Moon – the South Pole – Aitken (SPA) basin. Plenty of questions about the early formation of the Moon itself and the solar system could be answered more generally by looking at the soil in the basin.
To further explore the region, China plans to send a set of additional robotic explorers to continue the Chang’e program that has brought back the most recent lunar sample. The next, Chang’e 6, plans to bring back a lunar sample from the south pole specifically, and its insights might provide a better understanding of any future site.
Will China or the US make it back to the Moon first? That’s still up for debate.
As the program progresses, Chang’e 7 will provide a comprehensive survey of the south polar region, while Chang’e 8 will serve as a technology validation mission for some of the technologies that will be vital in constructing a base there. At the end of the program, the China National Space Agency might have enough information to implement its plan to launch an international, cooperative lunar research base. Hopefully, with that information, China will be able to bring some benefits from the Moon back to Earth.
Microwaves are useful for more than just heating up leftovers. They can also make landing pads on other worlds – at least according to research released by a consortium of scientists at the University of Central Florida, Arizona State University, and Cislune, a private company. Their research shows how a combination of sorting the lunar soil and then blasting it with microwaves can create a landing pad for future rockets on the Moon – and save any surrounding buildings from being blasted by 10,000 kph dust particles.
This system works in large part because certain minerals on the lunar surface are magnetic, and those same minerals are also very susceptible to being heated up by microwaves. In particular, a type of glassy mineral called ilmenite, which makes up about 1-2% of the Moon’s surface, is highly magnetic.
Ilmenite forms when the Moon is blasted by small meteors and forms material called agglutinates. For older lunar soils (i.e., those that haven’t been recently blasted by a meteor), up to 60% of the soil is made up of these agglutinates, whereas only about 20% of “younger” lunar soils are. So concentrations are high enough in some places that contain significant amounts of older regolith.
Understanding regolith will be key to setting up any kind of Moon base, according to this UT interview.
So if future explorers wanted to make a landing pad, they could zap this older soil with strong microwaves to sinter it together and create a durable enough surface that would allow a rocket to land on it without sandblasting everything around. That sandblasting would be particularly wicked as there is no air to slow the dust particles down, as it would on Earth.
The solution seems simple enough – blast the soil with microwaves to sinter it together. However, systems can always be improved, and this microwave sintering process is no exception. The researchers found that, by subjecting the regolith to a process known as beneficiation, they could increase the amount of microwaves it absorbed and, therefore, the effectiveness of the heating process.
Beneficiation, in this case, involves sifting the soil and hitting it with a magnetic field, causing the more magnetic soil to move toward the magnet, whereas the non-magnetic soil would simply fall back to the ground. Dr. Phil Metzger, one of the lead authors of the study, compares the process to what recyclers do here on Earth – they sort material by its magnetic strength, allowing magnetic material, such as regular steel, to be separated from the more valuable stainless steel, which is not magnetic.
In this UT video we describe why in-situ resource utilization is useful for all kinds of things.
On the Moon, when the magnet is powered down, the magnetic soil would rest on top of the non-magnetic type. And since the magnetic soil is also much more susceptible to microwaves, the beneficiation process could increase the amount of energy the material absorbs by 60-80%.
That is an absurd improvement and one that could dramatically decrease the necessary size of the microwave power supply needed for such a mission. Given the weight of some microwave power supplies, any reduction in its heft could dramatically decrease the cost of the overall program.
The paper also looks at other potential landing pad creation methodologies, including polymer-based by paver-based pads. However, the cost-effectiveness of using in-situ resources, such as those in the microwave sintering project, is the most effective at the current price point of getting equipment into orbit.
While that price might fall significantly in the coming decades, this technique seems like one of the best for the Artemis mission planners that are hoping to land a reusable rocket on the Moon sometime again this decade. For now, the next research steps would include testing the microwave power source and doing similar tests on the soil in a simulated lunar environment, including in a vacuum. If some microwaved meals are anything to go by, it might not be the best idea to smell the resulting material though.
Some of the most useful discoveries about distant objects take time to complete. For example, several generations of planetary scientists have been studying the clouds of Jupiter since the late 1970s. Their observations focused on the planet’s upper troposphere. The results show unexpected patterns in how the temperatures of Jupiter’s belts and zones change over time.
Those temperatures rise and fall in cycles not tied to the seasons. That’s unusual since scientists didn’t expect to find such regular variations. It could be due to Jupiter’s very slight tilt on its axis. The four decades of observations also found a connection between temperature shifts in regions several thousand kilometers apart. As temperatures rose at specific latitudes in parts of the Jovian northern hemisphere, they fell at the same latitudes in the southern hemisphere. Is there a connection?
“That was the most surprising of all,” said Glenn Orton, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of a study based on the observations. “We found a connection between how the temperatures varied at very distant latitudes. It’s similar to a phenomenon we see on Earth, where weather and climate patterns in one region can have a noticeable influence on weather elsewhere, with the patterns of variability seemingly ‘teleconnected’ across vast distances through the atmosphere.”
Observing Jupiter’s Clouds
Jupiter, as we all know, is covered with thick clouds. It has the largest and most complex planetary atmosphere in the solar system and is a natural laboratory where scientists can study interactions between the belts and zones, the creation and evolution of giant whirling windstorms, and other atmospheric activity. It’s also a natural laboratory for understanding the atmospheres of other giant planets. Surprisingly, its troposphere (the lowest region of the atmosphere, which sits atop the “surface” of Jupiter’s liquid interior) is pretty similar to Earth’s. That’s because the troposphere on both planets is where clouds form and where storms whirl.
These infrared images of Jupiter with color added were obtained by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in 2016 and contributed to the new study. The colors represent temperatures and cloudiness: The darker areas are cold and cloudy, and the brighter areas are warmer and cloud-free.
Credit: ESO / L.N. Fletcher
To understand the tropospheric weather, scientists needed more data about the winds, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and temperatures. They have known since the Pioneer missions that Jupiter’s lighter and whiter bands (known as zones) are generally colder. The darker brown-red bands (known as belts) are where temperatures are warmer. But, planetary scientists needed long-term measurements to understand how the weather changes over time.
So, Orton’s team used observatories in Chile and Hawai’i to take the temperatures of cloud zones and bands of Jupiter. Starting in 1978, they studied the bright infrared glow that rises from warmer regions on Jupiter. That allowed them to directly measure the temperature of the troposphere. They collected their data during three of Jupiter’s 12-year orbits around the Sun. After several decades, they began to combine the data from the observations into a coherent “picture” of Jupiter’s tropospheric weather.
An Atmospheric Scientist’s Work is Never Done
This time-domain study of Jupiter’s lower atmosphere is a good start on understanding what causes the cyclical and apparently synchronized changes it undergoes. But, of course, more work needs to be done. “We’ve solved one part of the puzzle now, which is that the atmosphere shows these natural cycles,” said study co-author Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester in England. “To understand what’s driving these patterns and why they occur on these particular timescales, we need to explore both above and below the cloudy layers.”
Perhaps changes in the stratosphere influence changes in the troposphere and vice versa. But, what mechanism explains the linkage between temperature changes across wide areas of the planet? Further observations should help find a link if there is one. In the meantime, scientists think that the results of this 40-year study could help them predict Jupiter’s weather even as they seek to understand the observed changes.
The next step will be to create improved climate models for the giant planet. The data will feed computer simulations of the temperature cycles Orton and the team have measured. Then, they could use that information to predict how the variations affect weather. The information could help with similar predictions at Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Water on the Moon has been a hot topic in the research world lately. Since its first unambiguous discovery back in 2008. Since then, findings of it have ramped up, with relatively high concentration levels being discovered, especially near the polar regions, particularly in areas constantly shrouded in shadow. Chang’e 5, China’s recent sample return mission, didn’t land in one of those permanently shadowed areas. Still, it did return soil samples that were at a much higher latitude than any that had been previously collected. Now, a new study shows that those soil samples contain water and that the Sun’s solar wind directly impacted that water.
The amount of water on the lunar surface varies widely both based on the time of the lunar day and the latitude it is located at. There is so much variability that the water content of the lunar soil can be 200 ppm higher or lower at different times of the day. With that much variability, it seems clear that the Sun plays a significant role in the hydrological cycle there is on the Moon.
Part of that role is controlling the type of hydrogen embedded into the lunar soil. Since the Moon has almost no atmosphere to speak of, the charged hydrogen particles that make up the solar wind can directly interact with the top regolith layer on the lunar surface. When they do so, they leave behind a distinct sign that they do – a large amount of hydrogen atoms with very little deuterium.
UT video on the importance of water at the lunar poles.
Deuterium is a heavier form of hydrogen with an extra neutron in its nucleus. It is relatively rare on the solar wind, given that the neutron gives the extra mass, making it less likely to be caught up in the forces that create the wind. As such, hydrogen and whatever water it eventually forms from the solar wind would be distinctly lacking in water molecules that integrate deuterium.
That is exactly what researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences found on some of the soil samples returned by Chang’e 5. They had a high (~1000-2500 ppm) concentration of hydrogen but a relatively low concentration of deuterium. Importantly, this result was the case for the first 100 nm of soil collected, showing that the solar wind effect appears on the topmost layer of the regolith, as expected.
Also, the overall water concentration in the Chang’e 5 sample was estimated to be around 46 ppm, right around what was found using remote sensing prior to the lander touching down. Location also mattered a lot to this study, as the researchers attempted to use the concentration findings and feed them into a model that tracks the outgassing that was evidenced by lunar water at other latitudes. At the higher latitudes of Chang’e 5, there wasn’t as much variability as was found at lower latitudes by missions such as Apollo and Luna.
The search for lunar water continues in this UT video.
More importantly, the model also suggests that even higher latitudes, reaching up toward the poles, would have an even greater abundance of hydrogen. That lends credence to the theory that the lunar poles are one of the most likely places to find large amounts of water on the lunar surface. And it also feeds into the interest that the polar regions have garnered as the potential site of the first lunar research base. While that is still a long way off, the results from this study are an important step toward understanding this all-important feature of lunar hydrology.
Although dark matter is a central part of the standard cosmological model, it’s not without its issues. There continue to be nagging mysteries about the stuff, not the least of which is the fact that scientists have found no direct particle evidence of it. Despite numerous searches, we have yet to detect dark matter particles. So some astronomers favor an alternative, such as Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MoND) or modified gravity model. And a new study of galactic rotation seems to support them.
The idea of MoND was inspired by galactic rotation. Most of the visible matter in a galaxy is clustered in the middle, so you’d expect that stars closer to the center would have faster orbital speeds than stars farther away, similar to the planets of our solar system. What we observe is that stars in a galaxy all rotate at about the same speed. The rotation curve is essentially flat rather than dropping off. The dark matter solution is that galaxies are surrounded by a halo of invisible matter, but in 1983 Mordehai Milgrom argued that our gravitational model must be wrong.
Rotation curve of the typical spiral galaxy M 33 (yellow and blue points with errorbars) and the predicted one from distribution of the visible matter (white line). The discrepancy between the two curves is accounted for by adding a dark matter halo surrounding the galaxy. Credit: Public domain / Wikipedia
At interstellar distances, the gravitational attraction between stars is essentially Newtonian. So rather than modifying general relativity, Milgrom proposed modifying Newton’s Universal Law of Gravity. He argued that rather than the force of attraction is a pure inverse square relation, gravity has a small remnant pull regardless of distance. This remnant is only about 10 trillionths of a gee, but it’s enough to explain galactic rotation curves.
Of course, just adding a small term to Newton’s gravity means that you also have to modify Einstein’s equations as well. So MoND has been generalized in various ways, such as AQUAL, which stands for A Quadradic Lagrangian. Both AQUAL and the standard LCDM model can explain observed galactic rotation curves, but there are some subtle differences.
Measured shift between inner and outer stellar motions. Credit: Kyu-Hyun Chae
This is where a recent study comes in. One difference between AQUAL and LCDM is in the rotation speeds of inner orbit stars vs outer orbit stars. For LCDM, both should be governed by the distribution of matter, so the curve should be smooth. AQUAL predicts a tiny kink in the curve due to the dynamics of the theory. It’s too small to measure in a single galaxy, but statistically, there should be a small shift between the inner and outer velocity distributions. So the author of this paper looked at high-resolution velocity curves of 152 galaxies as observed in the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) database. He found a shift in agreement with AQUAL. The data seems to support modified gravity over standard dark matter cosmology.
The result is exciting, but it doesn’t conclusively overturn dark matter. Thye AQUAL model has its own issues, such as its disagreement with observed gravitational lensing by galaxies. But it is a win for the underdog theory, which has some astronomers cheering “Vive le MoND!”
When humans start living and working on the Moon in the Artemis missions, they’re going to need good navigational aids. Sure, they’ll have a GPS equivalent to help them find their way around. And, there’ll be LunaNet, the Moon’s equivalent to the Internet. But, there are places on the lunar that are pretty remote. In those cases, explorers could require more than one method for communication and navigation. That prompted NASA Goddard research engineer Alvin Yew to create an AI-driven local map service. It uses local landmarks for navigation.
The idea is to use already-gathered surface data from astronaut photographs and mapping missions to provide overlapping navigational aids. “For safety and science geotagging, it’s important for explorers to know exactly where they are as they explore the lunar landscape,” said Alvin Yew, a research engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Equipping an onboard device with a local map would support any mission, whether robotic or human.”
Having a map-based system as a backup would make life a lot easier for explorers in craters, for example, said Yew. “The motivation for me was to enable lunar crater exploration, where the entire horizon would be the crater rim.”
The collection of ridges, craters, and boulders that form a lunar horizon can be used by artificial intelligence to accurately locate a lunar traveler. A system being developed by Research Engineer Alvin Yew would provide a backup location service for future explorers, robotic or human. Credits: NASA/MoonTrek/Alvin Yew
Using Moon Mapping Data for Navigational Aid
The heart of Yew’s system is data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. That spacecraft is mapping the Moon’s surface in the highest possible detail and performing other lunar science and exploration tasks. The onboard Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) has provided high-resolution topographic maps of the Moon.
Yew fed LOLA data into an AI program that uses digital elevation models to recreate features on the lunar horizon. It makes them look as they would appear to an explorer on the lunar surface. The result is a series of digital panoramas. THE AI can correlate them with known surface objects—such as large boulders or ridges. The goal is to provide accurate location identification for any given area.
“Conceptually, it’s like going outside and trying to figure out where you are by surveying the horizon and surrounding landmarks,” Yew said. “While a ballpark location estimate might be easy for a person, we want to demonstrate accuracy on the ground down to less than 30 feet (9 meters). This accuracy opens the door to a broad range of mission concepts for future exploration.”
Yew’s geolocation system also has roots in the capabilities of GIANT (Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool), developed by Goddard engineer Andrew Liounis developed it. Scientists used GIANT to double-check and verify navigation data for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. That spacecraft went to the asteroid Bennu to collect a sample for analysis here on Earth.
Moon Maps in Your Device
There may soon come a time when a lunar explorer will head out to study various surface features. They’ll be equipped with cameras and communication equipment. That’s similar to Earth geologists heading into the field with a DSLR and a cellphone with GPS and satellite access. They can find their way around by noting landmarks, but it’s always useful to have backup methods. Of course, here on Earth, we have multiple communication networks.
LunaNet concept graphic for a possible communication and navigation device used on the Moon. Credits: NASA/Reese Patillo
On the Moon, that infrastructure isn’t in place. But, it should be there when the Artemis mission is fully underway. Still, it won’t be long before those lunar geologists are “in the field” themselves. And, they’ll need all the help they can get as they do their work. According to a study published by Goddard researcher Erwan Mazarico, a lunar surface explorer can see at most up to about 180 miles (300 kilometers) from any unobstructed location on the Moon. That makes long-term surface studies across wide areas a bit more challenging. Ideally, a surface explorer could use the “app” that Yew is developing in a handheld device. Like a portable GPS unit, a lunar wayfinding device would help astronauts in regions that don’t have the greatest line-of-site. Onboard terrain data sets including elevation data would be part of its software.
Yew’s geolocation system has some likely applications beyond the Moon. Even on Earth, location technology like Yew’s will help explorers in terrain where GPS signals are obstructed or subject to interference. This use of AI-interpreted visual data against known models of the lunar surface could provide a new generation of navigation tools not just for Earth and the Moon, but even on Mars.
NASA’s continued goal of sending humans into deep space using its Space Launch System (SLS) recently took a giant leap as the world’s largest space agency finalized the SLS Stages Production and Evolution Contract worth $3.2 billion with The Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama. The purpose of the contract is for Boeing to keep building SLS core and upper stages for future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond for at least five more SLS launches.
This finalized contract follows initial funding and authorization provided by NASA in October 2019 for Artemis III-related manufacturing, to include cost-efficient bulk purchases, targeted long-lead materials, and core stage work. This new contract phase keeps Boeing working on SLS through July 2028.
“NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is the only rocket capable of sending large cargos and soon, astronauts to the Moon,” John Honeycutt, SLS Program manager, said in a statement. “The SLS core stage is the backbone of NASA’s Moon rocket, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust at launch, and the addition of the exploration upper stage will enable NASA to support missions to deep space through the 2030s.”
With the recent success of the uncrewed Artemis I mission to the Moon, this finalized contract demonstrates the confidence NASA now has in the SLS rocket to bring humans back to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
Artemis II, the first crewed mission of the Artemis Program, is currently scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center sometime in 2023. The purpose of this mission will be to conduct a complete shakedown of the Orion spacecraft on a four-day trip as it will travel 7400 kilometers (4600 miles) beyond lunar orbit. This will allow the crew to view both the Earth and the Moon from Orion’s many windows, while marking the farthest humans have traveled from the Earth. This mission will be followed by Artemis III, which will land the first woman and person of color on the Moon’s surface.
For Artemis I through III, SLS utilizes an interim cryogenic propulsion stage with only one RL10 engine to propel NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the Moon. But starting with Artemis IV, NASA will be utilizing the SLS Block 1B configuration, which will use the more powerful exploration upper stage (EUS), larger fuel tanks, and four RL10 engines to send both crewed missions and bigger cargos to the lunar surface.
For now, the Artemis II core stage is scheduled for both completion and shipment to the Kennedy Space Center in 2023, with the Artemis III engine section recently shipped to Kennedy onboard NASA’s Pegasus barge, as well.
As stated, no human has visited the Moon since 1972, which happened on Apollo 17. This finalized contract between NASA and Boeing continues to write the history books and open a new chapter for deep space exploration to the Moon and beyond.
How successful will the Artemis missions be to the Moon, and eventually Mars? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
With the help of international and commercial partners, NASA is sending astronauts back to the Moon for the first time in over fifty years. In addition to sending crewed missions to the lunar surface, the long-term objective of the Artemis Program is to create the necessary infrastructure for a program of “sustained lunar exploration and development.” But unlike the Apollo missions that sent astronauts to the equatorial region of the Moon, the Artemis Program will send astronauts to the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin, culminating in the creation of a habitat (the Artemis Basecamp).
This region contains many permanently-shadowed craters and experiences a night cycle that lasts fourteen days (a “Lunar Night“). Since solar energy will be limited in these conditions, the Artemis astronauts, spacecraft, rovers, and other surface elements will require additional power sources that can operate in cratered regions and during the long lunar nights. Looking for potential solutions, the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and the NASA Glenn Research Center recently hosted two space nuclear technologies workshops designed to foster solutions for long-duration missions away from Earth.
NASA’s Glenn is the home of NASA’s power systems research, where engineers and technicians work to develop advanced power generation, energy conversion, and storage methods – with applications ranging from solar, thermal, and batteries to radioisotopes, fission, and regenerative fuel cells. The Clevand-based OAI is a non-profit research group dedicated to fostering partnerships between government and industry to further aerospace research. The OAI has a long history of collaborating and contracting with NASA and the DoD.
These workshops were the latest step in NASA and the DOE’s collaborative development of nuclear technologies for crewed space exploration programs. In terms of propulsion, these efforts have aimed to advance proposals for nuclear-thermal and nuclear-electric propulsion systems (NTP/NEP). In the former case, a nuclear reactor is used to heat propellants like liquid hydrogen (LH2); in the latter, the reactor generates electricity for a magnetic engine that ionizes an inert gas like xenon (aka. Ion Propulsion).
In 2021, NASA and the DoE selected three reactor design proposals for a nuclear thermal system that could send cargo and crews to Mars and science missions to the outer Solar System. The contracts, valued at around $5 million apiece, were awarded through the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL). In June 2022, they followed up by selecting three design concept proposals for a Fission Surface Power (FSB) system that would expand on NASA’s Kilopower project and could be sent to the Moon as a technology demonstration for the Artemis Program.
The nuclear technologies workshops saw over 100 engineers, managers, and experts in power systems from across government, industry, and academia come together to discuss topics ranging from Fission Surface Power to space nuclear propulsion systems. The event featured speakers and panelists from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the commercial sector to share knowledge, results, and lessons learned from past efforts to develop nuclear technology. Todd Tofil, NASA’s Fission Surface Power project manager, explained in a NASA press release:
“Reliable energy is essential for exploration of the Moon and Mars, and nuclear technology can provide robust, reliable power in any environment or location regardless of available sunlight. As we move forward with projects like Fission Surface Power and nuclear propulsion, it makes sense to look at work that’s been done in the past at NASA and other agencies to see what we can learn.”
The first workshop (in November) included discussions on mission requirements that call for nuclear power, such as long-duration missions beyond Earth where solar power isn’t always an option. This includes the Moon’s southern polar region but also on Mars, where the increased distance and periodic dust storms can also limit solar energy. The workshop also included discussions about test hardware from previous programs that could be relevant to today’s projects. Things concluded with a tour of the seven Glenn facilities engaged in nuclear research. Said Lee Mason, associate chief of Glenn’s Power Division:
“The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to discuss technology advancements and provide the new industry teams an opportunity to learn from the past and build on the foundation that’s been established. Strong industry-government collaboration and knowledge sharing will help us be successful with Artemis and missions beyond.”
The second workshop took place in early December and saw over 500 people from 28 countries meeting (in-person and virtually) to discuss how to address the extreme challenges of operating in the Lunar Night. During the three-day workshop, attendees learned about relevant developments in the field from power and thermal technology experts from NASA and other organizations. These included those funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and Exploration System Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD).
Status updates were also provided by several commercial entities that are partnered with NASA through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which will begin delivering experiments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface in early 2023. Most of these missions rely on solar panels or batteries and will face power and thermal challenges as they land in the South-Pole Aitken Basin. Since these systems need to remain in operation longer than a Lunar Day (also 14 days), CLPS providers will also benefit from advanced power systems.
Artist’s impression of astronauts on the lunar surface, as part of the Artemis Program. Credit: NASA
As Tibor Kremic, chief of the Space Science Project Office at NASA Glenn, summarized:
“The Moon is rife with extreme conditions, especially during the lunar night, that we must prepare for. We do that by bringing together leading experts from NASA, commercial partners, academia, and other government entities to share insights, review technical capabilities, and discuss the challenges and solutions ahead. The workshop was a learning experience for all of us, helping better prepare our CLPS providers and increase our understanding of the various technical capabilities and constraints as we continue to prepare for ever more ambitious payload deliveries to some of the toughest places in the solar system.”
These workshops also build on NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative, which is dedicated to fostering partnerships that will lead to technologies needed to live and explore on the surface of the Moon. The Initiative is particularly focused on technologies that allow for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), power generation, mitigating lunar dust, excavating and constructing on the Moon’s surface, exploring the lunar environment, and other methods that will ensure a sustainable human presence on the Moon for decades to come.
Another long-term objective of the Artemis Program is to establish the infrastructure and expertise that will allow for crewed missions to Mars in the early 2030s. This presents even greater challenges, ranging from logistics and transportation (transit times of up to nine months) to power systems for surface operations. Here too, nuclear propulsion (which could reduce transit times to 100 days) and nuclear reactors that can power surface habitats and vehicles for long-duration missions are in high demand.
This is yet another example of how this age of renewed space exploration (Space Age 2.0) is spurring the development of technologies that have been dreamt of for decades!
In a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team of researchers led by the University of Cologne in Germany examined how solar flares erupted by the TRAPPIST-1 star could affect the interior heating of its orbiting exoplanets. This study holds the potential to help us better understand how solar flares affect planetary evolution. The TRAPPIST-1 system is an exolanetary system located approximately 39 light-years from Earth with at least seven potentially rocky exoplanets in orbit around a star that has 12 times less mass than our own Sun. Since the parent star is much smaller than our own Sun, then the the planetary orbits within the TRAPPIST-1 system are much smaller than our own solar system, as well. So, how can this study help us better understand the potential habitability of planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system?
“If we take Earth as our starting point, geological activity has shaped the entire surface of the planet, and geological activity is ultimately driven by planetary cooling,” said Dr. Dan Bower, who is a geophysicist at the Center for Space and Habitability at the University of Bern, and a co-author on the study. “The Earth has radioactive elements in its interior which generate heat and enable geological processes to persist beyond 4.5 Gyr. However, the question arises if all planets require radioactive elements to drive geological processes that may establish a habitable surface environment that allows life to evolve. Although some other processes can generate heat inside a planet, they are often short-lived or require special circumstances, which would advance the hypothesis that geological activity (and habitable environments?) are possibly rare.” What makes this study intriguing is that TRAPPIST-1 is known as an M-type star, which is much smaller than our Sun and emits far less solar radiation.
“M stars (red dwarfs) are the most common star type in our stellar neighborhood, and TRAPPIST-1 has garnered significant attention since it was discovered to be orbited by seven Earth-sized planets,” explained Dr. Bower. “In our study, we investigated how stellar flares from TRAPPIST-1 impacted the interior heat budget of the orbiting planets and discovered that particularly for the planets closest to the star, interior heating due to ohmic dissipation from flares is significant and can drive geological activity. Furthermore, the process is long-lived and can persist over geological timescales, potentially enabling the surface environment to evolve towards habitable, or pass through a series of habitable states. Previously, the influence of stellar flares on habitability has mostly been deemed to be destructive, for example by stripping the protective atmosphere that enshrouds a planet. Our results present a different perspective, showing how flares may actually promote the establishment of a habitable near-surface environment.” Ohmic dissipation, also known as ohmic loss, is defined as “a loss of electric energy due to conversion into heat when a current flows through a resistance.” Essentially, it’s what scientists used to calculate the amount of heat a planet loses, also known as planetary cooling, which all terrestrial planetary bodies—even Earth—encounter.
The study’s findings indicate that the planetary cooling occurring on the TRAPPIST-1 planets is enough to drive geological activity, which would lead to thicker atmospheres. The researcher’s models also predict that the presence of a planetary magnetic field can enhance these heating results.
Recently, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope made its first observations of the TRAPPIST-1 system, finding that one of the planets in its system has a low probability of possessing a hydrogen atmosphere like the gas planets in our own solar system. This could indicate that at least one of TRAPPIST-1’s planets could possess a more terrestrial-like atmosphere like Earth, Mars, and Venus. With TRAPPIST-1 holding potential for the field of astrobiology, what follow-up research is planned for this study?
“There are two obvious avenues to pursue,” explains Dr. Bower. “First, our stellar neighborhood is dominated by M stars, so observational campaigns can assess the flaring nature of many more M stars besides TRAPPIST-1. Second, enhanced characterization of the TRAPPIST planetary system through observations and models will improve our understanding of the planetary interiors. This will enable us to refine our model in terms of whether the planets have an iron core and whether they have a large Earth-like silicate mantle.”
Do any of the TRAPPIST-1 planets contain the ingredients for life as we know it, or maybe as we don’t know it? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
Traditional mining has been subject to a negative stigma for some time. People, especially in developed countries, have a relatively negative view of this necessary economic activity. Primarily that is due to its environmental impacts – greenhouse gas emissions and habitat destruction are some of the effects that give the industry its negative image. Mining in space is an entirely different proposition – any greenhouse gases emitted on the Moon or asteroids are inconsequential, and there is no habitat to speak of on these barren rocks. So what is the general public’s opinion on mining in space? A paper from a group of researchers in Australia, one of the countries most impacted by the effects of terrestrial mining, now gives us an answer.
Strangely, as the paper points out, no one had previously studied this particular aspect of space resources. Despite the general media interest in ventures such as Planetary Resources and the success of missions such as Hayabusa-2, no one had attempted to understand how the general public felt about space mining.
It was not a foregone conclusion, as there are some potentially negative environmental factors to mining in space. While it might not cause any immediate harm to ecosystems as it does here on Earth, it does destroy “pristine” environments that have arguably been around since the dawn of the solar system, at least in the case of the asteroids. As excellently portrayed in the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, there will always be a part of humanity that will want to leave space as it is.
UT video on asteroid mining.
Another confounding factor is that the resources mined in space could, ostensibly at least, be used for products back on Earth. They could therefore end up in landfills, causing a longer-term environmental problem than if we simply recycled the material we already have in these large deposits of everything that humanity has created. So there was still an outstanding question of whether these potential downsides outweighed the risk in the eyes of the public.
Simply put, the public in a variety of countries broadly supports space mining, especially on asteroids. To get these results, the researchers performed two different studies, one involving almost 5,000 people in 27 (mostly rich) countries and another involving around 600 people in the US.
In the first study, the researchers asked a series of questions that focused on the participant’s attitudes towards mining – specifically four different kinds: in the Antarctic, on the ocean floor, on the Moon, or on asteroids. In particular, the researchers were interested in the positive and negative reactions that mining in each area elicited in their subjects.
UT interviews Dr. Phil Metzger, one of the world’s leaders in ISRU technology.
The results were unambiguous – people generally had negative feelings toward mining on the ocean floor, especially in the Antarctic, and they generally had positive feelings towards mining on the Moon, especially on asteroids. People across all 27 countries had reasonably similar responses, no matter what their income level or the environment they inhabited.
However, results from the first study were relatively shallow and did not delve too deeply into factors such as the participant’s political affiliation or individual morals. These are known to profoundly impact an individual’s stance toward terrestrial mining and its potential environmental impacts. Still, it was unclear what, if any, effect it would have on a person’s views of space mining.
Similar in structure to the first study, the second looked at people’s responses to questions about how they felt about mining in several different locations – this time including “tundra” instead of the Antarctic. However, it also delved into the individual inclinations of the person responding to the questions, including their political orientation, which is currently one of the more polarizing aspects of American life.
Isaac Arthur is also keen on asteroid mining, as he describes in this video.
Credit – Isaac Arthur YouTube Channel
Neither a person’s political persuasion nor their moral foundations were found to be clear indicators of whether or not that person would support mining in space. However, there was a negative correlation with support for lunar mining, specifically by those that scored higher on a test that assessed their interest in environmental sustainability. Assumedly that is because they think of the Moon as a pristine “environment” and view mining activities as potentially harmful to it.
Overall these studies seem like a glowing endorsement of public support for asteroid mining. However, there are some other confounding factors, including, as the authors point out, that both lunar and asteroid mining are, at this point, highly abstract concepts, the real impact of which may be hard to grok for many study participants. But studies such as this have to start somewhere, and waiting until after there is already a fully-fledged mining mission on the Moon to see if it has public support might be a little late. For now, at least, those interested in moving forward with this aspect of the economic development of space have the public on their side.
Astronomy 2023 highlights include two fine solar eclipses, the Sun heading towards solar maximum, a series of spectacular lunar occultations and much more.
Been out enjoying the sky in 2022? The past year saw two fine total lunar eclipses, a surprise meteor outburst from the Tau Herculids, a fine occultation of Mars by the Moon and more. Astronomy 2023 promises more of the same, plus much more. We’ve been doing this yearly roundup of things to look for in the sky now for well over a decade in one form or another, and the cosmos never disappoints. So, without further fanfare, here are the very best of the best events for astronomy 2023, coming to a sky near you:
Top events in 2023
First, up let’s distill things down to the very ‘best of the best…’ If I had to choose a ‘top ten’ list of events for the coming year, here are our picks for astronomy 2023:
-Mars is fine early just off opposition in late 2022 into early 2023
-Comet 96P Machholz reaches perihelion on January 31st
-A rare hybrid solar eclipse
-A fine annular eclipse
-A good year for the Perseids and Geminids
-The Moon resumes occulting Antares
-Moon occults Mars and Jupiter (on separate dates) for North America
-Solar Cycle 25 ramps up
-Venus vs. Jupiter on March 1st, just 30’ apart
-A possible outburst from the Andromedid meteors in early December
Comet 96P/Machholz, imaged by NASA’s STEREO spacecraft.
2023: An Astronomical Primer
As with any year, there’s what is known… and unknown. Eclipses, Moon phases, and conjunctions are always sure to happen in a clockwork Universe… what’s less known are how intense the solar cycle or a given meteor shower will be, or when the next great ‘Comet of the Century’ will turn up. Even less certain are when we can expect the next naked eye nova (we get about a dozen per century) or when the next galactic supernovae will grace our skies. We haven’t seen such a spectacle since Kepler’s supernova in 1604, though we did see one in our nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud in 1987. You could say we’re due…
Still, we can expect our host star to put on a good show in 2023 as we head towards the peak of the 11-year solar cycle in 2025. This is solar cycle Number 25 since we’ve started keeping records in 1755. Expect lots of sunspots, solar flares and prominences, and aurora.
2023 kicks off with all five naked eye planets visible at dusk in one visual sweep, a spectacle broken up once Mercury leaves the evening scene on January 5th.
Looking father afield in the solar system, 2023 is a ‘miss’ year for Jupiter’s outermost moon Callisto, the only major Galilean moon that can pass above or below Jove from our perspective. The moons move back towards edge-on in 2026, when a season of mutual transits and eclipses resume.
Saturn’s rings were also widest in 2017 from our perspective, and in 2023, narrow from 10 to 6 degrees wide and head towards edge-on once again in 2025.
In 2023, the very best dates to complete a ‘Messier Marathon’ and see all of the classic deep sky objects from the classic catalog in one night are the weekends of March 18th (primary) and March 25th (Secondary).
The white dwarf star Sirius B also reaches its maximum apparent separation 11.3” from its brilliant primary in 2023, offering a good opportunity to check the elusive companion off of your life-list.
The orbit of Sirius B. Credit: Dave Dickinson.
Eclipsesin 2023
Eclipses occur when the Moon either passes between the Sun and Earth (a solar eclipse), or the Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow (a lunar eclipse). The Moon’s orbit is inclined 5 degrees relative to the ecliptic plane, assuring that 2-3 eclipse seasons occur per year.
There are four eclipses in 2023: two solar and two lunar. This is the minimum that can occur in a given year. These span two eclipse seasons, to include:
-A hybrid annular solar eclipse for southeast Asia and Indonesia on April 20th
-A penumbral lunar eclipse for Australia and East Asia on May 5th
The path of the 2024 hybrid solar eclipse. Credit: NASA/GSFC/A.T. Sinclair.
-An annular solar eclipse for the US southwest and Central/South America on October 14th
-A 12% partial lunar eclipse for Africa, Asia and Europe on October 28th
The path of the October annular eclipse. Credit: Michael Zeiler.
Earth at perihelion: January 4th at 0.98 AU distant
Northward Equinox: March 20th
Northward Solstice: June 21st
Earth at aphelion: July 6th at 1.02 AU distant
Southward Equinox: September 23rd
Southward Solstice: December21st
In 2023, the Moon orbit versus the ecliptic is ‘hilly’ as we head towards Major Lunar Standstill in March 2025. This cycle of shallow versus steep follows an 18.6-year span. Expect higher tide fluctuations, as the Full Moon rides high in the sky for northern hemisphere observers in the winter, and low to the south in the summer. This culminates with the ‘Long Night’s Moon’ nearest the December southward solstice. In 2023, this high-riding Full Moon falls on December 26th, the day after Christmas.
The May 19th New Moon is also a ‘Black Moon’ in the old timey sense of the third in an astronomical season with four, and the August 31st Full Moon is ‘blue’ in the modern definition of the second full Moon in a calendar month.
Lunar Occultations in 2023
Lunar occultations occur when the Moon passes in front of a planet or bright star. These can be especially dramatic when the Moon is waxing, and the dark limb of our natural satellite leads the way.
The Moon occults Mars in December 2022. Credit: Mary McIntyre
There are 10 occultations of naked eye planets by the Moon in 2023:
-Venus (March 24th) for SE Asia, by a 9% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-Venus (November 9th) for Greenland, by a -15% illuminated, waning crescent Moon
-Mars (January 3rd) for southern Africa, by a +92% illuminated, waxing gibbous Moon
–Mars (January 31st) for the southern U.S. and Mexico, by a +74% illuminated, waxing gibbous Moon
Mars occultation footprint for January 31st. Credit: Occult 4.2
-Mars (February 28) for Iceland and northern Scandinavia, by a +59% illuminated, waxing gibbous Moon
-Mars (September 16) for northeastern South America (North America in the daytime) by a +3% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-Mars (October 15) for Antarctica, by a slim +1% illuminated Moon near New
-Jupiter (February 22) for the southern tip of South America, by a +10% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-Jupiter (March 22) for the eastern Caribbean, by a +2% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-Jupiter (May 17th) for North America, by a +5% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
Jupiter occultation footprint for May 17th. Credit: Occult 4.2
In the current era, the Moon can also occult four bright +1st magnitude stars (Antares, Spica, Regulus and Aldebaran). The good news is, the Moon starts a series of occultations of Antares (Alpha Scorpii) this year, and blots out the star 5 times in 2023:
-August 25th for North America by a +58% illuminated, waxing gibbous Moon
-September 21st for the western Pacific, by a +35% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-October 18th for the Middle East by a +15% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-November 14th for eastern North America by a +3% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon
-December 12th for southeast Asia (in the daytime) by a slim -1% illuminated Moon near new
This cycle runs out until one last final occultation of Antares on August 27th, 2028.
Other stars brighter than +3rd magnitude in the synodic path of the Moon in 2023 include Gamma Virginis, Alpha Librae, Sigma Scorpii and Delta Scorpii.
Best Asteroid Occultation for 2023: Rarer still is to see an asteroid pass in front of a distant bright star. Steve Preston maintains a list for the very best asteroid occultation events for the year. Our top pick for 2023 is the occultation of the naked eye star Betelgeuse by asteroid 319 Leona across southern Europe and the southern tip of Florida on December 12th.
Astronomy 2023: The Planets
The planets continue their celestial clockwork dance in 2023 as well. The very best time to observe the inner planets (Mercury and Venus) is when they’re near greatest elongation and farthest from the Sun in the dawn or dusk sky, while outer planets are best near opposition, when they rise in the east as the Sun sets in the west, dominating the sky for the entire night.
NASA’s solar observing SOHO spacecraft also spies the planetary action as planets transit the field of view of its LASCO C3 and C2 imager. Hopefully, the list of 2023 events and transits will go live here soon.
Astronomy 2023: The Inner Planets
-Mercury reaches greatest elongation 6 times in 2023:
-January 30th, 25 degrees west of the Sun at dawn
-April 11th, 19 degrees east of the Sun at dusk
-May 29th, 25 degrees west of the Sun at dawn
-August 9th, 27 degrees east of the Sun at dusk
-September 22nd, 18 degrees west of the Sun at dawn
-December 4th, 21 degrees east of the Sun at dusk
-Venus reaches greatest (dusk) elongation 45 degrees east of the Sun on June 4th, crosses solar conjunction on August 13th at 5 degrees south of the Sun, then heads back into the dawn sky and reaches greatest elongation 46 degrees west of the Sun again on October 24th.
Astronomy 2023: The Outer Planets
Opposition rollcall for planets in 2023 is as follows:
-Jupiter (November 3rd)
-Saturn (August 27th)
-Uranus (November 13th)
-Neptune (September 19th)
-Pluto (July 22nd)
Astronomy 2023: Conjunctions
Conjunctions occur when the Moon, a star or planets appear near each other in the sky from our Earthly point of view. In keeping with our ‘best-of-the-best’ doctrine,’ here are the closest (less than one degree, or two Full Moon widths apart) conjunctions for 2023:
-Best (naked eye) planet vs. planet: Venus-Saturn (January 22nd) 20’ apart, 22 degrees east of the Sun.
-Closest planet versus bright star: Mercury-Regulus (July 29th) 6’ apart, 25 degrees east of the Sun
Other close conjunctions of planets and bright stars in 2023 include:
January 22nd: Venus 18’ from Saturn (22 degrees east of the Sun).
February 15th: Venus less than 1’ (!) from Neptune (28 degrees east of the Sun)
Venus vs. Neptune. Credit: Stellarium.
March 1st: Venus 30’ from Jupiter (31 degrees east of the Sun)
Jupiter meets Venus on March 1st at dusk. Credit: Stellarium.
March 2nd: Mercury 54’ from Saturn (13 degrees west of the Sun)
July 10th: Mars 36’ from Regulus (42 degrees east of the Sun)
July 29th: Mercury 6’ from Regulus (25 degrees east of the Sun)
October 29th: Mercury 18’ from Mars (6 degrees east of the Sun)
Astronomy 2023: Meteor Showers
There are about a dozen major dependable meteor showers per year, with dozens more minor ones… Of course, the Moon’s phase always plays a role, as a near-Full Moon will obscure fainter meteors. From this perspective, favorable showers in 2023 include:
-The Lyrids (April 23nd) Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) ~18 (variable up to 90) with the Moon a +16% illuminated, waxing crescent.
-The Perseids (August 13th) ZHR ~100 with the Moon a -16% illuminated, waning crescent.
-The Taurids (October 10th) ZHR ~5-15 with the Moon a -15% illuminated, waning crescent. Note that 2023 is also a perihelion year for source comet 2/P Encke.
-The Orionids (October 22nd) ZHR ~20, with the Moon a +56% illuminated, waxing gibbous.
-The Leonids (November 18th) ZHR 10-15, with the Moon a +31% illuminated, waxing crescent.
-The Geminids (December 14th) ZHR 150, with the Moon a +4% illuminated, waxing crescent.
-Could an Andromedid meteor outburst be on tap for early December 2023? This normally defunct shower was the source of several great meteor outbursts in the 19th century. Fast-forward to the early 21st century, and this shower seems to be making a comeback. Astronomers predict that 2023 may be a storm year for the enigmatic Andromedids. Also, Earth ‘may’ encounter a debris stream from periodic comet 46P/Wirtanen around December 10th-12th radiating from two possible radiants: one in the southern constellation of Sculptor, and another in the northern constellation of Pegasus.
Astronomy 2023: Comets to Watch For
As noted previously, comets come and go. What makes our ‘is interesting’ radar when it comes to comets is an expected peak magnitude of +10 or brighter. Under this rule, a handful of interesting comets have cropped up in 2023:
-C/2022 E3 ZTF (named after the Zwicky Transient Facility) may reach +5th magnitude in early February 1st as it glides through Camelopardalis into Auriga.
-Comet C/2017 K2 PanSTARRS comes off of perihelion in December 2022, and may still shine at magnitude +8 in the southern constellation of Pavo the Peacock.
The projected 2023 light curve for comet 96P Machholz. Credit: Sechii Yoshida’s Weekly Information About Bright Comets.
–96P Machholz 1 may top out at +2nd magnitude in February 2023. The comet reaches perihelion on January 31st. Unfortunately, the comet will also pass very close to the Sun at its brightest, and will be visible low to the dawn afterwards.
Comet 96P’s path through SOHO’s LASCO C3 viewer. Credit: Starry Night
-Comet 263P/Gibbs reaches perihelion on February 2nd in the constellation Capricornus, and may reach +8 magnitude.
-Comet 237P/LINEAR reaches perihelion on May 15th in the constellation Sagittarius, and may reach +9th magnitude.
-Comet T4 (Lemmon) reaches perihelion on July 31st, in the constellation Cetus passing into Telescopium and may reach +6th magnitude.
-Comet 103P/Hartley reaches perihelion on October 12th in the constellation Gemini, and may reach +8th magnitude.
-Comet 2P/Encke reaches perihelion on October 23rd in the constellation Virgo, and may reach +6th magnitude.
-Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan reaches perihelion on December 25th in the constellation Leo, and may reach +7th magnitude.
-Finally, Comet C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS may reach +8th magnitude by year’s end going in to 2024, crossing northern Centaurus during this apparition.
And waaaay out in the outer depths of the solar system out past the orbit of planet Neptune, famous Comet 1/P Halley reaches aphelion on December 9th, 2023, at 35.14 AU distant… it’s all downhill from there, as the comet begins its plunge towards the inner solar system for perihelion in the summer of 2061. Let’s see, by then I’ll be…
And of course, we have the next Great North American Total Eclipse to look forward to on April 8th, 2024, as the shadow of the Moon sweeps across Mexico, the U.S. and the Canadian Maritimes.
Isn’t it great that we get to share the sky together in 2023? Watch this space, as we expand on these fine celestial events and more in the coming year.
-Thanks to John Flannery for weighing in on his list of the best astronomical events for 2023, and congrats on the first Irish Astronomy Week, coming right up on March 19th, 2023!
Mars might not be the first place you would think of when thinking about where wind power might be useful. It has dust storms similar in scale to anything that the Earth can muster, and they’ve been responsible for the death of lots of the technology we’ve sent to the Red planet over the years. However, the strength of those storms is only enough to lift some dust particles into the air, which eventually shrouds that technology’s solar panels. Scientists have thought that it doesn’t really have enough oomph to be useful for anything. However, a new paper calls that assumption into question and shows that wind power could be useful on Mars.
There are a few caveats in that statement, though. One is that this research is based on climate models rather than actual wind data at many locations. Another is that it would potentially only be helpful in particular locations, though those locations are some of the more scientifically exciting locales anyway.
Scientific interest is one of the main driving forces of Martian exploration efforts. The tantalizing prospect of potentially finding extinct (or extant) life on one of our sister planets has been the dream of generators of space explorers. Most of those explorers want to push for a human mission to do the most amount of science possible in the shortest amount of time – robots just aren’t quite as efficient as human explorers.
If we do choose to use wind power on Mars, we might have some difficulty landing the turbines if they’re too heavy.
But to have a human mission, there has to be enough power at the mission site to provide life support and meet basic mission needs. In most of the scientific literature, those needs are met by two power sources – nuclear and solar.
Solar is one of the most common power sources on Mars, hence why so many missions fall prey to the inevitable dust covering blocking their solar panels. But it does have some distinct disadvantages. It is only available for a certain percentage of the day, and those percentages vary based on the location and time of the Martian year. Sending the necessary power storage capacity to Mars to support a human-crewed mission off of solar power alone is extraordinarily expensive, so an alternative source of baseline power is needed.
Nuclear fills that void nicely on the Red Planet and on Earth. However, while humanity has operated small-scale nuclear reactors on other planets before, having one large enough to provide baseline power for a crewed mission is another thing entirely. There are plenty of dangers in operating one, especially in the conditions such as that on the Martian surface, let alone the unknowns of how to land one on its surface in the first place.
Living on Mars is a popular trope in the space exploration community. But it won’t be easy.
As such, an alternative baseline power source would be helpful. Wind has largely been discounted because of the general impression that the Martian atmosphere is too spare to provide the necessary power. But research into how to get the most out of wind power here on Earth has resulted in some technological improvements that could make it a more viable power source on Mars.
First, it would be helpful to understand how much power the wind on Mars provides. To do so, researchers from NASA, UC Boulder, and elsewhere turned to the Mars Global Climate Model (GCM). The GCM predicts wind speeds over the Martian surface as well as the density of that wind. From there, the researchers could calculate the power it supplies, on average, at least.
They also make several interesting points to consider when thinking about wind farms on Mars. First – wind speeds increase dramatically even 50 m off the ground on Mars. So, if any future mission intends to use wind power, it’s better to build tall turbines rather than ones that are closer to the ground, even if that does require overcoming some additional engineering challenges.
Scott Manley discusses wind turbines on Mars.
Credit – Scott Manley YouTube Channel
Another is that wind offers a good foil for solar power on the Red Planet. For example, solar radiation decreases significantly during dust storms, but wind power increases during those times. Also, longer nights during winter on the Red Planet cause wind power to overtake solar as a potential power source.
Notably, that second point is true for mid- to polar- latitudes, where some of the most interesting scientific sites (i.e., those containing water) are located. So, for bases situated there, a combination of solar and wind energy is the optimal safe mix of power, without the need for potentially dangerous nuclear at all.
Utilizing an underappreciated resource, such as wind on Mars, can turn heads in the space exploration community. But humanity will need every ounce of power it can possibly get from the least amount of weight possible if it genuinely intends to send people to Mars. This study is another step toward understanding the best way to do that.
