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There's not much atmosphere on Mars (approx. 0.6% of Earth's) to get in the way of the sun, so there's not much advantage to beaming down solar energy. You migh
by creatornator 8y ago
There's not much atmosphere on Mars (approx. 0.6% of Earth's) to get in the way of the sun, so there's not much advantage to beaming down solar energy. You might as well just have solar panels on the rovers themselves, which unsurprisingly is exactly what NASA did.
- diggernet 8y agoBut solar panels in space can be much larger and dust free.
- stouset 8y agoWouldn’t they have to beam that energy down to a dust-free sensor?
- diggernet 8y agoI believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that a microwave receiver is less sensitive to dust than solar panels. Also, if you've got a large solar array in space sending a focused beam of energy to a rover, the receiver can be hit with much more power than a same sized solar panel, which can more than offset any losses from dust on the receiver.