Answer 1:
Either one requires chemistry, so you need some
way to protect your robot's internal environment
from the vacuum. Aside from that, it depends on
your source of energy: if you're relatively close
to the sun, then solar panels will be a very good,
abundant, reliable source of energy. As you get
farther from the sun, the amount of power you can
derive from a solar source will become
increasingly limited. Solar power is ultimately
unlimited, however, and batteries aren't, so it
depends on whether your robot's function is going
to be one that will last, without maintenance, in
perpetuity, or if it needs to do only one thing
and then it isn't needed anymore. Ideally,
however, the best option is to use both. The
Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity use solar
panels to charge their batteries so that they can
still radio information back to Earth even if the
sun sets. Click Here to return to the search form.
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