Mark states that it takes between 4 and 20 minutes for a signal from Earth to reach Mars. Verify the math behind this statement.
Mark is starting to plan long term, assuming he can find a way to fix the problem with his food supply, he will eventually need to travel to the Ares 4 landing site, 3200 kilometers away, about the distance from Los Angles to Chicago. He will need to modify one of his two rovers to be able to make the drive. He will need to do a lot of calculations to figure out how to make a rover keep him alive for a drive that long, so he is starting with the problem of power.
Each rover has a 9000 watt-hour battery. He plans to transfer the battery from Rover 1 to Rover 2, giving him 18,000 watt-hours per charge. At maximum efficiency the Rovers use 200 watt-hours per kilometer, but he estimates that given the rough terrain he will need to cover, and the extra weight for supplies, it will probably use about 280 watt-hours per kilometer. How far can he go on a charge? How many times will he need to recharge the batteries on the trip to Ares 4?
He will need to recharge the rover using solar panels that are currently powering the Hab. So he will need to drive at night, and charge the rover during the day. The Hab has 50 solar panels, each one has an area of 2 square meters. Mark plans to take 14 for the trip. Each one converts sunlight with an efficiency of 10.2%. If Mars gets 500 Watts of sunlight per square meter, how long will it take to recharge the battery?
If the Rover travels at 25 kph how long can the rover go on a single charge?
How many Sols will it take to drive to Ares 4?
Of course all this is assuming that he doesn't use the heater...
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