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If we end up ever colonizing Mars, we will almost certainly be able to count on the fact that we’ll be running our homes on clean, sustainable energy. Most experts will tell you solar power will be the way to go; hell, even nuclear, despite the risks, is seen as a more viable option. But as it turns out, we might one day see wind farms dotting the red, barren landscape as far as the eye can see.
According to a new study run by NASA scientists and published Dec. 19 in Nature Astronomy, Martian winds could be a reliable source of energy on the Red Planet—and perhaps even afford the opportunity to explore and settle new locations we hadn’t previously thought possible. On its own, the paper doesn’t radically change how we think about potential Mars habitats, but it does add a new layer to contemplating how human communities could diversify their energy needs to thrive on Mars in the distant future
“Wind power represents a stable, sustained energy resource across large portions of the Mars surface,” the authors wrote. “We find that wind speeds at some proposed landing sites are sufficiently fast to provide a stand-alone or complementary energy source to solar or nuclear power.”