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Concrete from Mars dust and astronaut pee

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thinkfat:
This is just on reference I found, but it's all over the news:

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/news/astrocrete-astronaut-blood-sweat-tears-mars-homes-dust-concrete-material-moon-university-of-manchester-2548418


--- Quote ---Dr. Aled Roberts, from the university who worked on the project, said that their method was considerably beneficial over many others. “Scientists have been trying to develop viable technologies to produce concrete-like materials on the surface of Mars, but we never stopped to think that the answer might be inside us all along,” he was quoted as saying in a report on the website of The University of Manchester.

--- End quote ---

:palm:

Haenk:
Vulcanic ash has been used for thousands of years as a concrete-like building material, with amazing properties - so that might work well.
However the problem is the water - one would assume a recycling process for astronauts or space stations, so unless they find some nice, easy-to-use water source, their idea won't work.

thinkfat:

--- Quote from: Haenk on September 23, 2021, 07:41:42 am ---Vulcanic ash has been used for thousands of years as a concrete-like building material, with amazing properties - so that might work well.
However the problem is the water - one would assume a recycling process for astronauts or space stations, so unless they find some nice, easy-to-use water source, their idea won't work.

--- End quote ---

Water, proteins, minerals in the urine, these are literally the rarest materials on Mars and not replenishable other than via spaceship from Earth. How did they come up with the idea to literally piss them away, claiming it is less expensive than bringing concrete bricks to Mars.

Infraviolet:
They didn't want to use all the valuable chemicals in the urine, just a specific single substance "HSA" which they found helps bind together what is otherwise a very dusty soil.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/14/martian_blood_brick_plan/
That link gives a bit mroe detail, plus a further link to the research paper.

SiliconWizard:
Uh yeah.
Still makes you wonder if we have nothing better to do these days.
 :-DD

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