Mars

The book is structured along logical lines of progressive thought and may be conceptually divided into three parts. The first part contains thirteen chapters and deals with energy sources and resources on Mars. After the introductory Chap. 1,presenting the history of power systems for Mars surface exploration, a group of four chapters (2 to 5) refers to solar energy utilization. Systems based on photovoltaic and photothermal conversion are presented. Chapter 6 is devoted to power systems based on fuel cells. The next four chapters focus on the utilization of nuclear energy. The first in this series (Chap. 7) presents the evolution of nuclear power generation for Mars. The series continues with Chap. 8, where distribute power sources are considered in the perspective of Mars colonization. Chapter 9 proposes advanced nuclear compact structures while Chap. 10 develops new solutions for nuclear energy and flights on Mars in the middle-term future. The utilization of geothermal energy on Mars is discussed in Chap. 11. The last chapters in the first part (12 and 13) present a comparative analysis of power systems architectures and economic aspects of energy utilization on Mars, respectively, after human settlements are established.