/sci/ - Science & Math

Solar bros, did we get too cocky?

I've been trying to figure out how large of a battery bank a Martian colony would need to survive a long dust storm without generating energy. A Tesla Megapack is 7.14 m x 1.60 m, 23 tonnes, and Starship can take five of them assuming a 125t payload to Mars. This equals 15 MWh worth of battery storage, but if the power consumption is the same as the ISS at 90 kWh, this would only be about a week supply of energy. Either you would need to greatly reduce energy consumption, use more energy dense batteries, or have like six Starships filled up with batteries sent to the colony.