Friday, September 30, 2016

Science & Technology: Geothermal Energy - You're Needed....On Mars!

Why Geothermal Energy Will Be Key To Mars Colonization (Forbes)

(scifiideas.com)
If SpaceX founder Elon Musk truly wants to die a natural death on the Martian surface he’s not only going to have to get there, he’s going to have to survive there for years, if not decades.

The latter arguably requires some sort of long term source of energy. Initially, such energy could be provided by solar and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), but over a generation, Mars colonists will require some sort of in situ heat and electricity generated from the planet itself. Thus, why not tap into Mars’ potentially abundant sources of geothermal energy?

Geothermal energy, in the form of geothermal heat or either electricity generated via steam turbines from potentially hot geothermal reservoirs is the most viable option for near term Martian colonization.

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