The StarCrete is twice as strong as regular concrete and is made from extraterrestrial dust, potato starch, and a pinch of salt.
A sustained human presence on the lunar and Martian surfaces will require habitats with thick walls and ceilings for protection against radiation exposure and meteor strikes.
Due to the high cost of transporting mass from Earth to space, bulk construction materials will be produced from locally available resources — a concept known as in situ resource utilization.
The stabilization of loose, unconsolidated regolith (i.e., dust and soil) into a solid concrete-like material would not only provide radiation- and micrometeoroid-shielding, but could also allow the deployment of relatively lightweight, inflatable habitats by countering the extreme thermal and pressure differences between indoor and outdoor environments.
Although there have been several proposed solutions to the stabilization of regolith for extraterrestrial construction, most have major drawbacks such as extremely high energy or water use, or the need for additional high-mass mining, transportation, processing or fabrication equipment which would add to the cost and complexity of any mission.
One potential solution is the use of naturally occurring biopolymers as regolith binding agents to produce extraterrestrial regolith biocomposites.
Starch is an abundant plant-based carbohydrate and is the main source of calories in the human diet.
In addition to food, starch is also employed industrially as an adhesive/binder for various applications — including paper, cardboard, and textile manufacture.
Starch has been extensively investigated as a binder for plant fiber-based biocomposite materials; however, relatively poor mechanical properties and moisture sensitivity limit their applicability.
In the new research, University of Manchester scientists Aled Roberts and Nigel Scrutton demonstrated that starch can act as a binder when mixed with simulated Mars dust to produce a…
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