QUESTION: Is it possible to have electricity on Mars? ANSWER from Mark Adler on August 12, 1998: You betcha. We have landed spacecraft on Mars that needed electricity to operate and to radio back to Earth. The Viking landers in the late 1970's used nuclear heat which was converted to electricity. The Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover of last year both used sunlight on solar panels to generate electricity during the day, and batteries for electricity at night. For a colony, a nuclear reactor would probably be the best power source for continuous availability (night, dust storms), reliability, and low weight (it costs more money to send more weight to Mars). Mark Adler