Slash Gear by Brittany A. Roston - Sep 13, 2021
Combining the Martian dust with compounds from blood and sweat resulted in a material stronger than the typical concrete used on Earth, according to the study. The researchers call their material ‘AstroCrete,’ noting that of the materials created, the best-performing sample had a compressive strength of 40 Megapascals; that’s considerably higher than ordinary concrete’s 20 – 32MPa strength.
A six-person crew on Mars could contribute the biological materials needed to produce around 1,100lbs of the AstroCrete material in two years, the study estimates. The amount of the Martian concrete produced would expand with each new crew member added to a long-term mission, producing greater amounts of concrete for building expansions.
The concrete recipe may prove more useful than other suggested building methods for future Mars missions, including ones that involve 3D printing systems or other types of regolith-based building materials. The idea of mixing blood with soil to make concrete isn’t new — ancient civilizations used animal blood as a binder in their mortars, for example.
More:
https://www.slashgear.com/study-finds-astronaut-blood-mixed-with-mars-soil-makes-ultra-hard-concrete-13690672/
