Weltraumbeton
Updated on October 12, 2024, 8:20 a.m
How can we eventually build buildings on Mars? © imago images/Dreamstime
If man built a house on the Moon or Mars, what would it be made of? Research is actually being carried out on exactly such building materials.
What might houses look like on the Moon or Mars? And what would they be made of? Some research groups are thinking very specifically about this and have already come to initial results.
The raw material is so-called regolith, i.e. broken rock, sand and dust from the surface of the Moon and Mars. In order to turn them into usable building blocks, suitable binding agents are necessary. A research group from Ireland has now developed a new concept.
New technology for space concrete
The project was presented to a research group from Trinity College Dublin as part of Space Week, which takes place every year at the beginning of October. The team found that regolith can be converted into solid building materials using so-called carbon nanotubes.
In his Research work The team showed how the nanotubes could be used to bind fine sand and lunar and Martian regolith into solid blocks, making them as strong as granite.
They are not the first to look at building materials for space. Two researchers from the University of Manchester have also conducted research on this in recent years. In hers In their work from 2023 they presented the so-called StarCrete before. Here ordinary starch serves as a binding agent. According to the researchers, only 25 kilograms of dehydrated potatoes are necessary to produce almost half a ton of StarCrete. More than 200 bricks could then be formed from this.
Biological binding agent for building materials in space
Updated on October 11, 2024, 8:31 a.m
NASA is exploring innovative ways to create extraterrestrial habitats from fungi. This method could make it possible to build suitable accommodation for astronauts quickly and inexpensively.
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