University of Manchester researchers formulated a building material for outer space called StarCrete. (Photo: Mirrors)
JAKARTA – Space exploration in search of new life on Mars brings innovation in all fields. One of them was the finding of materials for building houses made of flour, blood and spit.
University of Manchester researchers originally formulated a new building material called StarCrete . The prime material is made from a mixture of space dust, salt, and potato starch.
The main purpose of making this material is a solution to reduce the burden of heavy materials to build a house on Planet Mars.
“The mixed material is more durable and stronger,” said StarCrete’s head researcher, Dr. Aled Roberts, quoted from Mirror, Monday (14/8/2023).
The claim comes from the process of testing the strength of solid objects. The pressure reaches 72 MPa (megapascals) or the equivalent of 32 MPa.
The function of each ingredient is also no joke. Flour, besides functioning as glue, is also the main ingredient. Every 25 kilograms of dry flour can be processed into solid material for making 213 bricks. An average house requires 7,500 bricks.
“Before deciding to use potato starch, we tested various ingredients for adhesives such as cow’s blood, synthetic spider web,” said Roberts.
Cow’s blood is actually the best material because it’s cheap, but considering it’s difficult to transport cows to planet Mars . As a result, a new adhesive material was sought, namely saliva.
The idea comes from a Ray Mears Bushcraft documentary that showed indigenous tribes attaching feathers to arrows by chewing a kind of flour and then attaching it to the area to be attached.
“We suspect the salivary enzymes help the chemical chains in the flour to get longer and stronger,” said Roberts.
(msf)
2023-08-14 15:53:25
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