sending astronauts to explore outer space Allowing humans to discover that the vast universe still has many things that we may not have expected. And when the humans of the world still have to continue to explore the universe Therefore, it is necessary to build an extraterrestrial infrastructure. but various structures They were expensive and materials were scarce.
When looking for materials that will reduce construction costs University of Manchester scientists So he invented a new material called ‘StarCrete’ or concrete that can be used to build houses on Mars.
by the scientists behind this invention Use Martian soil mixed with potato starch and a pinch of salt. to create a material that is stronger than general concrete and is ideally suited for construction in extraterrestrial environments.
in an article from a journal Open Engineering The research team has shown that Ordinary potato starch can act as a binder. After StarCrete was manufactured and tested, it was found that the new type of concrete had a compressive strength of 72 MPa (megapascals), which is stronger than conventional concrete, which has a compressive strength of 32 MPa. Simulated StarCrete, it is stronger than 91 MPa ever.
The mixture originally used the blood and urine of astronauts as a binder. Although the material has a compressive strength of regarding 40 MPa, which is better than general concrete. But this process has its drawbacks: it requires regular blood. and operating in hostile space environments. Using potato starch seems like a better option.
“Because flour is food for astronauts. Therefore, starch should be more of a binder than human blood. Moreover, current building technologies require several years of development. And it requires a lot of power and equipment. has a large size These factors all add to the cost and complexity of the mission, so StarCrete simplifies that complexity and is cheaper,” said lead researcher Dr. Aled Roberts.
The team also calculated that One sack of potato chips, regarding 25 kilograms, contains almost half a tonne of starch or 213 bricks of StarCrete. The three-bedroom house took regarding 7,500 bricks to build.
In addition, they discovered that common salt Substrate obtained from the surface of Mars. or even the tears of an astronaut It should be used as an ingredient to help StarCrete increase its strength further.
Dr. Roberts and his team Launched a startup called DeakinBio, it continues to explore and find ways to enable StarCrete to be used in terrestrial environments as well. The production of concrete on Earth requires high firing temperatures and high energy consumption. StarCrete, on the other hand, can be made in a conventional oven or a home microwave. thus reducing energy costs even more
Source :Manchester | bit.ly/3n8C1Tz
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Urban Creature Editorial
