Potato starch is better than human blood for making space bricks, scientists say
, two researchers from the University of Manchester in England demonstrate the effectiveness of potato starch as a binder to create the novel"StarCrete." StarCrete, a material made of potato starch, salt and simulated Mars or moon dirt, is twice as strong as conventional concrete, its creators say.featured strengths more than double that of ordinary concrete, which has a comprehensive strength measuring around 32 Megapascals .
Stronger concretes typically last longer, but that isn't StarCrete's major advantage as a potential building material on the moon or Mars. The scientists estimate that just 55 pounds of dehydrated potatoes could be used to produce nearly half a ton of StarCrete, which is enough to sculpt over 200 bricks. For context, you need about 7,500 bricks to construct a three-bedroom house here onTypical materials needed to mix concrete come with considerable weight.
Capitalizing on the resources available at an astronaut's destination to supplement supplies that are difficult or expensive to send from Earth, known as in-situ resource utilization , has long been the strategy when researching how humans might create sustainable outposts on other planetary bodies.
Potato starch wasn't the first medium that University of Manchester scientists tested in their search for ISRU building supplies. In a previous study, the same team explored the possibility of for their extraterrestrial concrete. The blood and urine of astronauts, after all, are renewable resources, and they're available wherever an astronaut's mission might take them.
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