Nuclear power appears to be a powerful way to make steam that spins a turbine. Same with geothermal, wind, & hydro. Maybe not solar? Isn’t energy lost in the multiple energy conversions (heat, water state, kinetic)? Is it theoretically possible to have a power source that more directly moves electrons through a circuit? If solar is the only one that can, it’s limited in efficiency and where it can be used. What about power generation undersea or on Ganymede or something?
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For power generation outside of earth where weight/ease of maintenance/reliability matters, then if solar works (Mars is about as far from the sun where it works well) then that’s the solution. Further away then an RTG (radioisotope thermal generator) then is usually the choice. Heat is generated by radioactive decay (not like a nuclear fusion reactor) and the heat transformed to electricity by using thermocouples. If you don’t need power for a long time (space shuttle, Apollo missions) then you can use a fuel cell where you combine oxygen and hydrogen to make electricity and pure water. They also are relatively low maintenance and very reliable (when your fuel tanks aren’t exploding that is). If you need A LOT of power then there is research on using a small fission nuclear plant and in that case generally a closed cycle using CO2 or some other easy to handle gas is used. Look up supercritical CO2 cycles. The gas is cooled (like the water condensers in a steam plant), compressed (like in a regular airplane turbine), heated waste heat from the turbines exit used to further heat it (for efficiency to recover heat and reduce the amount of cooling needed), heated even more using the nuclear plant heat, then it is expanded through a turbine to make electric power and drive the compressor, finally the hot CO2 goes through the heat exchanger to heat up the gas coming out of the compressor and cool down some, then it goes to the cooler I mentioned at the beginning and the whole cycle starts again. It could be done with water like on earth but the maintenance and weight doesn’t make up for the gain in efficiency.
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