A Vapour-Compression Heat Pump Using Carbon Dioxide for Mars Habitat Heating: Cycle Sizing

This paper presents a sized design for a Mars surface system based on vapour-compression heat pumping that lifts low-grade heat to habitat temperature. An electrically driven heat pump that extracts heat from a brine loop and delivers it to habitat air at useful temperature. The study is SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED: all values are computed from stated assumptions and published Martian environmental data, and no hardware was built or tested. The principal computed results are hot temperature K of 305, cold temperature K of 245, carnot COP of 5.08, practical COP of 2.13. Further results include heating delivered kW of 9, electric input kW of 4.22, heat extracted kW of 4.78, direct heater input kW of 9. The design is a computed study for peaceful surface operations — power supply, thermal control, radiation protection, construction and resource extraction for a crewed base — and it has no targeting or weapon application. Losses, deratings for dust and temperature, and the margin between capacity and the stated load are reported alongside the headline figures, and the limitations section states what a physical test would still need to establish.