Inverse - 🚀 How to power a Mars colony

Wednesday

Dec 21 2022

Renewable energy isn't just an Earth-bound problem — just ask any Mars mission felled by solar panels covered in dust. Given that future Mars explorers will need power sources, too, it makes sense to look for power beyond solar and nukes. Though Mars has an atmosphere less than one percent the pressure of Earth, it still manages to get some decent wind speeds, and a new study in Nature Astronomy found that it could be enough to get a little wind farm going on Mars.

(And speaking of other worlds, the Pentagon is now saying so far the weird objects seen by military pilots aren't from one. But that's what they all say. 👽)

What's New

Space

Science

This overlooked resource could be the key to powering a Mars colony

Future Mars inhabitants may be able to use one resource on Mars they hadn’t anticipated to power future exploration of the planet, according to a new study.

By tapping into wind power, space agencies could compensate for the times in the Martian day when solar energy is low or unattainable, like twilight and nighttime. Wind power could also be available during dark seasons on Mars, like winter, when days are shorter — despite the low atmospheric pressure on the Red Planet.

This possibility excites Victoria Hartwick, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. “What I think is most important about this study, and most exciting, is that, by utilizing this power resource that had really been historically disregarded, we are opening up a broader part of the Mars surface for exploration,” she tells Inverse. She led the new study that investigated wind power on Mars, published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Scene Stealers

Entertainment

Boyd Holbrook is the Nightmare that dreams are made of

Boyd Holbrook has sympathy for the devil — or, at least, for The Sandman villain even more terrifying than Lucifer themself.

“That’s the really good payoff: if you can get people to still question a character’s humanity after they’ve just been a complete bastard,” Holbrook tells Inverse.

In an interview with Inverse for our Scene Stealers end-of-year series, Holbrook opens up about landing the part of The Corinthian, why he prefers supporting roles, and how he went about portraying the stuff that nightmares are made of.

Inverse Awards

Science

The 10 biggest space launches of 2022

From crewed missions to satellite launches, 2022 was full of groundbreaking space missions that captured worldwide attention. Here are the launches, milestones, and experiments that defined spaceflight in 2022.

See the full list

WHAT'S THAT?

Science

Pentagon says it hasn’t turned up any aliens in ongoing UAP research

On Friday, Department of Defense (DoD) officials spoke about the U.S. government’s ongoing investigation into UFOs, including remarks about what constitutes a “space alien.”

Pentagon officials spoke about the status of the work into UAP (the current government term for UFOs). It’s an acronym that referred until recently to “unidentified aerial phenomena,” observations from military personnel dating back to 2004 that seem to defy any known capabilities of Earth-based aircraft.

Little is known about what they might be. Some might be rogue balloons, others might be undisclosed military experiments. But as naturally comes up with the topic of UFOs, many speculate if it could be aliens.

Inverse Awards

Gear

Inverse editor James Pero's 11 favorite tech products of 2022

As 2022 comes to a close, we want to share with you the devices, software, and services that have made the Inverse gear team's lives both professionally and personally better throughout the year.

Nothing here is sponsored, though we will get a commission if you buy anything through the affiliate links. Mostly, this is just our team's personal favorite tech of the year — all in one place.

See the full list

Meanwhile...

Scientists found previously unknown genes that show humans are still evolving

Hyundai’s 2023 Kona pulls its new look from the futuristic Ioniq 5

Indiana Jones 5 star says 'Dial of Destiny' is "just like the old ones"

5 years ago, Matt Damon made a sci-fi flop that was ahead of its time

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Ames Research Center current government term unidentified aerial phenomena The Sandman villain decent wind speeds little wind farm low atmospheric pressure Scene Stealers Entertainment ongoing UAP research groundbreaking space missions future Mars explorers Future Mars inhabitants undisclosed military experiments Inverse Awards Science

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