A Capillary Heat-Pipe Network for Moving Waste Heat on a Mars Base: Two-Phase Transport Sizing

This paper presents a sized design for a Mars surface system based on capillary-driven two-phase heat-pipe transport using a wick and a working fluid. A network of water and ammonia heat pipes linking heat sources inside a habitat to external radiators. 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 pipe count of 24, capacity per pipe W of 380, total capacity W of 9120, design load W of 8000. Further results include capacity margin of 1.14, pipe length m of 6, pipe diameter m of 0.025, network mass kg of 91.2. 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.