Construction of a Martian colony can be pretty expensive with the transportation of a single brick costing more than a million British pounds. However, scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a way to potentially overcome this problem by using extraterrestrial dust and blood, sweat, and tears from astronauts to build concrete materials.
In their study, protein from human blood mixed with urine, sweat or tears, could fuse a stimulated moon or Mars soil to produce a material stronger than regular concrete, that is suitable for extraterrestrial construction.
In a Materials Today Bio article, scientists demonstrated that a common protein from blood plasma could be a binder for simulated moon or Mars dust to produce AstroCrete, a concrete material that has impressive strengths of 25 MPa (Megapascals) which is about the same as the 20-32 MPa seen in ordinary concrete. By adding urea, a biological waste found in urine, sweat and tears, scientists could further increase the strength by over 300% at 40 MPa which is significantly stronger than ordinary concrete.
Scientists calculate that over 500 kg of AstroCrete could be produced over the course of a two year mission on Mars by six astronauts. If used as a mortar for sandbags or heat-fused regolith bricks, each member could produce enough AstroCrete to expand the housing for another crew member with each successive mission.
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Image Credit:The University of Manchester
3D-printed biocomposite with AstroCrete