Black technology starts from the steel suit

Chapter 160 Chapter 160 Mars Exploration
"Indeed, it's a little better on the moon, but it's much worse on Mars!" Wang Feng agreed very much with the other party's point of view. The environment on Mars is harsh, and solar panels have very high requirements for the use environment, such as light intensity, so this It's very difficult to do.

"But there is no way. Due to technical problems and cost issues, we still have no way to directly install nuclear batteries!" Director Wang said awkwardly. After all, if nuclear batteries can be directly installed, who would want to use solar panels? You know, in In that harsh environment, the lifespan of solar panels is far worse than that of nuclear batteries, and the limitations are much greater.

Perhaps because he was afraid that Wang Feng would not understand, Director Wang continued to add: "This will be opened up by others. First of all, it will cause the probe we launched, or the operating life of the Mars rover to be much shorter than that of the American Mars rover. Not only will it lead to insufficient economics of the detector, but it will also waste a rare window period."

"The rendezvous period between the Earth and Mars is 26 months, so the launch window for exploring Mars occurs every 26 months. Among the eight planets in the solar system, Mars has the longest rendezvous period, so its launch window has the least chance of appearing. The second is Venus. The launch window of Mercury has the most opportunities, appearing every 116 days, and the rendezvous period of other planets is basically about a year."

"So in order to truly realize the long-term goal of foreign exploration, nuclear battery technology must be overcome!" Director Wang said: "Especially this technology is also related to the safety of our Mars rover."

"Are you referring to the sandstorm?" Wang Feng had heard about it when he was studying abroad. In June 2018, the Mars rover Opportunity launched by the United States was hit by a super dust storm and lost contact with the space agency.

"Yes, although this thing is not very harmful, it is very insulting. If you are not careful, the detector will stop immediately!" Director Wang said helplessly.

Dust storms are one of the common weather events on Mars and occur in all seasons.This sounds no different from the earth, but there is one thing that is very different from the earth. Earth's dust storms are often regional, but Martian dust storms can easily erupt into world-class disasters.

火星沙尘暴最可怕的一点在于它们可以在短短几天内演变为全球型的沙尘暴，持续的时间往往达到数周甚至数月。这种情况平均每3-4个火星年，即6-8个地球年发生一次，最近的一次是2018年6月。

Although the air pressure on Mars is low, although the air is filled with large particles of dust, the wind speed is not too high, and it is not as fierce as the storm on Earth, and it will not blow over the spacecraft or the Mars rover.However, the dust storms covering the sky will bring another more deadly threat to the Mars rover-the solar energy received by these priceless treasures will show a cliff-like decline, causing a serious energy crisis.

Once the battery technology is not up to par, after the double blow of ultra-low temperature and over-discharge, the chance of being awakened is almost slim.Although scientists have designed deep sleep technology for Zhurong, it is still unknown whether it can be awakened by then.

Because the American rover has a similar design, and even the technology is more mature, but because of that crisis, Opportunity was directly shut down, and NASA announced the end of its mission in 2019.Later, people increased their research on Martian dust storms, and only then did they discover some reasons.

They are warmed by sunlight and lifted high into the sky due to dust towers, or dense clouds of dust.Scientists believe that water vapor wrapped in dust clouds may have taken these dust clouds like an elevator into space, where solar radiation breaks down water molecules, which may help explain how Mars' water disappeared over billions of years.

This dust cloud is a huge, churning cloud that's a bit like the cumulonimbus cloud that towers over Earth's atmosphere, and it's denser than the normal background dust in the Martian atmosphere, and it can also lift up more. high.Although they also occur under normal conditions, these dust cloud towers appear to form more during global dust storms.

Usually, this dust falls to the ground within a day or so, but in global dust storms, dust cloud towers can be digitally displayed for weeks on end, and in some cases, multiple cloud towers can be seen active for as long as More than 3 weeks, this may be one of the important reasons why the global sandstorm is so easy to break out.

Therefore, due to the existence of such periodic large dust storms, the energy supply of solar panels will be very limited. In any bad weather, it is not ruled out that the newly launched rover will stop directly like Opportunity.

"Our exploration of Mars has just started, unlike others who have launched several Mars rovers, if our single seedling stops again, the consequences will be disastrous." Director Wang said worriedly.

"Just imagine, we are lagging behind others, and solar-wing type Mars rovers are very easy to shut down in sandstorms. Once they shut down, we will need to redesign and launch. How much time will it take? "

"These delays will further widen the gap between us. After all, they not only launch more launches than you, they also run longer than you. How can this compare..."

"In terms of service life, Zhurong uses a sandstorm cycle. According to statistical laws, there are still more than 4 years before the next global sandstorm, which means that its service life is still 4 years!"

"Be optimistic, maybe you can survive once, then there are still 10 years." Wang Feng explained, although this is not very convincing.

"I hope so!" Director Wang did not refute. The purpose of his words was not to discuss how long it would last: "But the rated energy supply of Perseverance is 14 years. The gap is too big!"

The Zhurong uses very primitive technology, that is, the power supply technology of solar panels; while the Perseverance cancels the solar wing design and uses a nuclear battery to provide power, which can provide a peak power supply capacity of 900W and a lithium battery system. The daily power supply capacity of 100 watts is very powerful.

All its power comes from a 45kg nuclear battery.Its design working life is as long as 14 years, and the discharge power is as high as 100 watts. Such a large battery is placed at the tail of the Perseverance, like a big tail raised.

Despite its humble appearance, it is expensive to build, up to 7000 million US dollars, which is about 5 million when converted into RMB, which is more expensive than Maozi's latest MiG 35!
In addition to the nuclear battery, Perseverance is also equipped with two rechargeable lithium batteries to meet the peak demand of the Mars rover (NASA said that during the scientific operation of the Mars rover, the power demand can reach 900 watts, and the battery will be used during peak power consumption. (powering the Mars rover)
The efficiency of Perseverance's nuclear battery reaches 6.3%, which is far lower than that of solar panels, but it is considered to be very efficient in the field of nuclear batteries, and although the heat it emits will waste a lot, it can play a role in heat preservation, greatly Extend its service life.

At this point, Director Wang has already said all that needs to be said, and the rest depends on Wang Feng's choice.

"Although I don't know much about aerospace, if it involves energy, especially electrochemistry, I am still very willing to do my little bit."

(End of this chapter)