Redesign Hydro-Electric Wheels to Run on Fine Sand For Mars Colony Power

Hydro-power is a great way to generate electricity here on Earth, and water is pretty plentiful for the most part right? Well, not always and each time you dam up the water and restrict the flow you immediately have other issues to the flows of water, and quantity downstream, as well as the modifications you've made to the eco-system along a river or water way. So, hydropower isn't always the best choice, but it is one option which should be looked at, especially if you have a lot of fast moving water and elevation change near you.

But what about colonies on other planets, should we have a plan for hydro-power for space? Should NASA draw up plans of hydro-electric power, after all where ever we put human colonies, they are bound to need electricity to power up their iPhones and favorite search engine online. Well, what about Mars, yes, a Martian Colony, remember there is no running water on the surface of that planet from what we can see. There might be running water below the ice caps at the poles, but it's hard to say really.

So, if we put a Mars Colony away from a solid above ground water supply, then for sure we will need to figure out a way to make power, and hydro-electric power is thus, pretty much out of the question right? Well, maybe not entirely, let me explain my thinking on this.

You see, fine sand could turn a wheel or system, and we know that fine sand can flow through an Hour Glass. If we watch an hour glass we see that the fine sand flows a lot like water in a spiral vortex flowing fashion, and that ought to be enough to turn a spindle or wheel to generate power. One thing that the surface of Mars has a ton of is sand, and giant sand storms to boot. Oh, so you are thinking wind-turbine also? Well, perhaps a combination might be an idea.

The sand blows into a hopper at the edge of a crater, and then it flows through an hourglass type system and fills up the crater. Once the crater starts filling up, move the hour glass along the side rim until it's all filled in, then pick up the system and start on a new crater. You could do that for 10s of thousands of years and make it really nice and flat for future cities? Anyway, think on this.