On February 18, the Perseverance rover arrived on Mars, after seven months of space navigation, and landed in the Jezero crater. This NASA tool promises to increase collect information regarding the environment of the red planet to determine the possibilities that there had been life in the past; if it can generate oxygen or if there are traces of water.
I must say it, Perseverance is an impressive piece of technology: it has 19 cameras, microphones and a drone in the form of a helicopter called Ingenuity. It weighs 1,025 kilograms and measures 2.2 meters high and 2.9 meters wide. In addition, for our analysis, it consumes 110 Watts of energy.
This is 50% more than what a laptop consumes or seven times less than what a microwave oven consumes. Surprisingly, the Ingenuity consumes more energy —350 Watts— according to NASA information.
How is Perseverance charged for exploration on Mars?
Considering that there are not many sources of energy on Mars, nor the means of development, Perseverance and Ingenuity must be very efficient and self-sustaining during their exploration mission. For the rover, the source of energy is a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Or, said in a very —but very— simple way, a nuclear battery.
The thermocouples of the battery convert the heat emitted by radioactive decay of a nuclear source; in this case a radioisotope of plutonium-238, into electrical energy. The generator charges two lithium-ion batteries and provides energy to Perseverance.
And, since 88 years are required for the radioisotope to reach its half-life —the unit of measurement to determine the time in which unstable atoms will survive radioactive decay—, we have a potential energy source for the rover for a while.
Why was this type of energy chosen for Perseverance?
This source was chosen over solar panels because of the operational flexibility that it would provide to the rover to operate in conditions of low solar irradiation during exploration on Mars. This assumption occurs at night, in winter or in adverse weather situations, such as sandstorms.
For its part, Ingenuity does use solar panels to charge its six lithium-ion batteries.
This experimental drone/helicopter weighs 1.8 kilograms and has only one mission: to explore the environment so that Perseverance can plan the best routes on its journey. To keep it light, it does not have any type of instrument beyond its camera and its solar panel.
NASA’s spending for the development of Perseverance was 2,500 million dollars and it will have an operation and maintenance cost of 150 million dollars per year. If we talk about its useful life being eleven years, the total amount will hover around 80,000 million pesos of 2020. Something like the entire subsidy of CFE last year.
The development and operation of the Rover Perseverance is one of the projects that will help us better understand our solar system; at the same time it puts into practice technological development in modern energy matters through the nuclear battery and the solar panels of Ingenuity. These developments are, without a doubt, important pieces to advance on the frontier of possibilities of energy use both on Earth and in space.
This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: February 23, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/energia-exploracion-marte-como-carga-perseverance-paul-sanchez-opinio/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240529213514/https://businessinsider.mx/energia-exploracion-marte-como-carga-perseverance-paul-sanchez-opinio/ [Archived]