Emily Chan
The resulting concrete produced a compressive strength of approximately 40 MPa, which is better than ordinary concrete.
However, astronauts would be required to drain their blood on a regular basis, which was not viewed as a feasible option, especially in such a hostile environment as space.
“Since we will be producing starch as food for astronauts, it made sense to look at that as a binding agent rather than human blood…And anyway, astronauts probably don’t want to be living in houses made from scabs and urine!” said Dr. Aled Roberts, the lead researcher of the StarCrete project and a research fellow at the Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub at the University of Manchester.
Additionally, the team determined that a common salt compound, magnesium chloride, significantly improved the strength of StarCrete.
It can be found on the surface of Mars or in human tears. StarCrete has huge potential on Earth as well.
It could be a cleaner, greener alternative to traditional concrete because it can be made in an oven or microwave at “normal home baking temperatures,” cutting down CO2 emissions and energy costs for production.
The study was published in Open Engineering.
