Scientists have developed a special concrete using human blood and urine that could help astronauts build human colonies on Mars.
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This is according to a study published in Materials Today Bio. The special concrete has been developed by researchers at the University of Manchester using extra-terrestrial dust as well as a protein from the human blood, fused with a compound from urine, sweat or tears.
Sending a single brick of concrete on Mars would cost a whopping $2 million, meaning engineers would have to get creative with the materials that they¡¯d have in their hands on Mars.
The human blood plasma has a protein dubbed human serum albumin that acts as a binder for simulated Moon or Mars dust to create a concrete-like material. The end material dubbed AstroCrete had strengths of 25MPa (Megapascals) -- similar to the concrete we use today (ranging from 20MPa to 32MPa).
However, researchers discovered that by adding urea to the mix -- essentially a biological waste product released by the body in urine, sweat and tears -- could increase this aforementioned strength by a whopping 300 percent -- possessing a compressive strength of almost 40 MPa.
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This works as the blood proteins denature, or "curdle," to form an extended structure with interactions known as "beta-sheets" that hold on to the material together.
Dr Aled Roberts, from The University of Manchester, explains, "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."
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According to the scientists, over 500 kilograms of high-strength AstroCrete can be produced on a two-year Mars mission by a crew of six astronauts. If used in the form of a mortar for sandbags or heat-fused regolith bricks, each crew member could produce enough AstroCrete to expand the habitat for supporting an additional crew member, doubling the housing available.?
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