Even if humans don’t (at least) reach Mars 10 or 20 years, once they get there, they must procure some sort of shelter. We have developed a new building material that is twice as strong as conventional concrete and consists primarily of potato starch, a little salt, and Martian soil. There is already a strong name StarCrete.
Judging by what is known about the Martian environment, there won’t be much to do once humans get to Mars. Of course, this is a bit of a challenge as astronauts have limited space for supplies and need to be very resourceful to make things work. High-tech possibilities are many, but one of the most promising and powerful can be one of the relatively easy to achieve.
[Related: With Artemis 1 launched, NASA is officially on its way back to the moon.]
As detailed in a recent paper published in the journal open engineering, a team at the University of Manchester took advantage of the fact that potato starch is likely to be a menu feature on upcoming Mars excursions. , contains enough starch for 0.5 tons of StarCrete. This is enough to build about 213 bricks for the structure. Combining starch with salt and magnesium chloride taken from Martian soil and the astronaut’s own tears dramatically increases StarCrete’s strength, allowing it to bake at normal microwave and home oven temperatures. I was.
In laboratory tests using simulated Mars regolith (soil), scientists measured a compressive strength of 72 megapascals (MPa). This is about double his 32 MPa rating for regular concrete. As an added bonus, using mock moon dust to make a similar mixture showed a compressive strength of over 91 MPa. So the StarCrete variant could also bring humans back to the moon.
[Related: NASA’s Curiosity rover captures a moody Martian sunset for the first time.]
Aled Roberts, principal investigator on the project and fellow of the University’s Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub, explained that StarCrete could intervene. “Current building techniques still require years of development and require significant energy and additional heavy processing equipment, all of which add cost and complexity to the mission,” he said. says Roberts. said in a statement“StarCrete doesn’t need this, which makes the mission simpler, cheaper and more feasible.”
Meanwhile, Roberts’ team isn’t waiting for StarCrete’s potential Martian advantage. their startup, deakin bioexplores how similar materials can be used on Earth as a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative to existing concrete materials. At least none of the new building options require Roberts’ suggestions from previous research. human urine and blood for solidification.
