Humanity’s future plan to colonize Mars and the Moon could be closer. A group of scientists has discovered that it is possible to use the sand from these not yet colonized places with the intention of turning it into bricks that allow building.
From the University of Trinity College in Dublin, a group of scientists has made an important discovery that could change everything for future space expansion. They say they have found the method that will allow the regolith of Mars and the Moon to be united with the intention of forming blocks. The way they will do it is through carbon nanotubes that will do the work at very low temperatures.
Building in space
One of the most positive aspects of this way of building will be that the process of making the bricks will require very little energy. That is something that scientists highlight in view of the way in which it may influence whether it is possible to build more easily than could have been imagined. In the regolith of the Moon and Mars, both soil sand and dust and loose rocks would be united. Everything would form a mass that would be key to starting to build so that colonization can make sense from a realistic point of view.
Furthermore, they comment that we should not be fooled by the low density of the bricks that are formed from regolith. The reason for this is that they reveal that they can have a strength of a maximum of 100 MPa and be even more resistant than some of the types of cement used on our planet. That would pave the way for colonization plans to begin to have a better chance of materializing as has been laid out in some of the previously revealed plans.
Additional properties
Scientists from the University of Dublin also comment that these regolith bricks have an additional benefit that will be very important. It is about its electrical conductivity. They believe that, thanks to this, it will be possible to use them not only as a brick for the construction of structures, but also to take advantage of additional functions. For example, they specifically comment that they could be internal sensors that allow complete monitoring of the state of the structures. This would allow them to discover if, for example, some type of problem or incident is going to occur.
This type of feature would be very useful, since once buildings and structures begin to be built in space, scientists will need to have as much support as possible to know that everything is going well. Furthermore, those responsible for the discovery say that this will enormously enhance colonization plans for both Mars and the Moon given that, until now, one of the problems was transporting materials. Because the largest percentage of the raw materials used to build on Mars and the Moon will have to come from these same places, the discovery of regolith changes everything. Thus, only a small part of the materials will have to be shipped from Earth, with all that that entails.
Of course, it is still early for us to know when these types of plans will begin to be implemented. But in the next few years or decades, who knows, we might start to see how different people live on Mars or the Moon. In the short term, from Dublin they mention that the discovery they have made can also be used on Earth. They believe that, with a similar process applied to the materials of our planet, the amount of cement used to build can be significantly reduced.
For now, the discoveries made from Dublin align well with previously proposed theories that have always defended the need to use materials available on Mars and the Moon to build. From here, it will be in the hands of NASA, private companies and other scientists to begin establishing an action plan.
