Amadee-24-AVAWT

Details

Summary

Harvesting energy locally on Mars during manned Mars missions will be very important for supporting the power systems of the future Mars habitats. Delivering energy resources from Earth to Mars will be too expensive, meaning that usage of any energy sourceavailable in the Mars environment will be very useful. In addition to solar energy, wind energy could also be considered as a potential source of energy.Martian surface winds, with a wind velocitythat would correspond to about 3m/s on Earth, are not a particularly powerful mean for harvesting energyon Mars, but they could still serve as an auxiliary source.

AVAWTtherefore wants to measure the power generation and wind velocityat the test site with a Savonius VAWT style wind turbine during the mission.These turbines are lightweight, have a simple construction and can be easily deployed and mounted on a nearby small hill or even at the top of the habitable module.To increase efficiency, a new structural improvement of the turbines is also being tested: rectangular openings are made in both blades and covered with flexible patches. These patches bend with thewind and allow the air to flow through the openingson the side where the wind blows on the blade’s convex surface. This will reduce the dynamic pressure on the convex side of the turbine, thus increasing the difference between the dynamic pressures on the turbine’s two sides and generating greater rotational momentum.With this improvement the maximum torque of the wind turbine could increase up to 60%.

Independent Experiment:

• No allocation of GOST/CRW resources or inclusion in mission plan
• Under supervision of GOST CDR
• Eligible for site access

Experiment Data