(ORDO NEWS) — British scientists have presented a new recipe for making concrete from Martian or lunar regolith, potato starch and salt.
The StarCrete material proved to be much stronger than conventional concrete grades and can become the basis for the construction of habitable bases on neighboring celestial bodies.
Before opening permanent bases on other planets, you need to decide what to build them from.
It is too difficult and expensive to ship tons of materials from Earth, so scientists and engineers are developing methods that will use local resources for this.
A new such technology was recently presented by the team of Aled Roberts (Aled Roberts) from the University of Manchester.
Their StarCrete material is made from a Martian soil simulant, starch, and a small amount of salt.
Laboratory tests have shown that its compressive strength reaches 72 megapascals – about twice that of the most common grades of conventional concrete.
When using not Martian, but lunar regolith, the strength already exceeds 90 megapascals.
Roberts and his colleagues have been dealing with the problem of “alien” concrete for years. Some time ago, they demonstrated a highly unusual material that uses human blood plasma as a binder.
Its compressive strength reaches a quite acceptable level of 40 megapascals, but, of course, requiring astronauts to constantly donate blood for the sake of construction is not a good idea.
Therefore, since then, scientists have been looking for a more convenient binder for the Martian and lunar regolith.
It is assumed that most of the food for future colonists will be grown locally, and potatoes are considered one of the most promising products.
Roberts and his co-authors showed that the starch contained in potatoes can be an excellent replacement for blood albumin in the production of “alien” concrete.
According to scientists, 25 kilograms of dried potatoes will be enough to produce about half a ton of building material.
In terms of standard bricks, this is more than 210 pieces, and for the construction of a three-room house, about 7.5 thousand are required.
In addition to the filler (lunar or Martian regolith) and binder (starch), the StarCrete recipe includes a small addition of magnesium chloride, which significantly increases the strength of the finished material.
This additive was also present in the previous work of the Roberts team, where they used blood plasma, and suggested that the magnesium salt be obtained from tears.
Now scientists note that it can be extracted directly from the local soil.
The Manchester-based startup DeakinBio will improve and commercialize the new technology. They expect the recipe to have applications beyond space.
Adapted to earth conditions, it will provide greener materials for construction and reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of conventional cement and concrete.
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