Intercontinental rovers servicing automated solar-powered Rodriguez Wells can supply water for Human Exploration on Mars. This paper describes a solar-powered multivehicle concept that can turn water resources obtained from mid-latitude glacier ice into a sustained water supply. A robotic drilling platform is proposed that can access relatively pure water ice in mid-latitude Martian glaciers through 1-10m of loose regolith, whereupon longdistance tanker rovers continually traverse terrain between the drilling operation and human outposts located in Mars equatorial zones. Robotically deployed solar-thermal panels will be able to passively heat warm water that is delivered into a Rodriguez Well (a melted cavity in an expanse of water ice such as a glacier). Newly melted water will be pumped up out of the well and cycled through the solar panels to fill tankers. The tankers will consist of multiple four-wheeled linked cars in a tram-like configuration that can overcome steep terrain and obstacles. The system will be able to deliver its own landed mass of water to the human explorers every ~74 Mars days. The resources, power, vehicle configurations, and detailed functions are described.
Robotic Infrastructure for Mars Outpost Water Supply
03.03.2018
Preprint
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Robotic infrastructure for Mars outpost water supply
IEEE | 2018
|Nuclear power options for Mars polar robotic outpost
NTRS | 2004
|Future Mars outpost architecture
NTRS | 2000
|Future Mars outpost architecture
NTRS | 2001
|Future Mars outpost architecture
NTRS | 2001
|