I thought of a series of Mars missions which allow the humanity to gather much more information compared to the total of previous missions. The key to achieving this goal is to plan a bigger mission composed of smaller missions to achieve it. The key to explore more of Mars depends on the energy source of the surface explorers. Unfortunately, solar energy beyond Earth is very limited and creates a bottle neck for the missions. Like Earth, Mars also has day and night and seasons which dramatically affect the already low solar energy capacity.
I had previously proposed Plutonium 238 as the critical energy source for space missions. Previous space missions (to the moon) that utilized this isotope tried to generate electricity directly. This resulted in very poor energy conversion rates. However, Mars has atmosphere where Moon lacks. It is mainly carbon dioxide which has the highest vapor pressure of any gas. Heating the cold carbon dioxide gas with Pu₂₃₈ to generate pressure is very feasible. The generated pressure would be used to operate the pneumatic actuators and generate electricity. This method has way higher energy conversion efficiency compared to other methods and the solar energy. A proper planetary robot which has legs instead of wheels would be able to explore large areas on the surface of Mars. The additional explorations can be conducted on the shadows and at night. Even underground caves can be checked briefly. This method of electric generation would not be affected by the ambient temperature while it requires no chemical batteries. The consumable carbon dioxide gas is available all around the planet which pose no travel restriction. More energy means more distances can be travelled, drilling can be deeper and other energy intense tasks can be conducted.
On my next article I will explain how is it possible to analyze the Mars samples in detail.
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