Potatoes in space: Boffins cook up cosmic concrete for off-world habitats
- Reference: 1679311924
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/03/20/spuds_in_space_make_cosmic/
- Source link:
Scientists at the famed institution have created a new material, they call "StarCrete", which is not made from actual stars, but from the dust which gathers on the Moon and Mars, plus potato starch, and a pinch of salt.
While proposals for the inhabitation of the Moon or Mars are abundant — NASA, Roscosmos, SpaceX and the European Space Agency have tentative proposals — the question remains over how to build dwellings for the unlucky Martian migrants.
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The problem with building anything to live on another planet or moon is that every kilogram of material you take costs fuel. And — such are the laws of rocketry — every kilogram of fuel costs more fuel. So there is sort of a double cost to everything you take.
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To get around the problem, dreamers of cosmic exploration have long suggested using what is already there when voyagers arrive. Here, Manchester University — which boasts atom-splitter Ernest Rutherford among its alumni — steps in.
In an [4]article published in the journal Open Engineering , a research team showed potato starch is a good binding agent for unconsolidated regolith (that's extra-terrestrial dust and soil).
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The resultant StarCrete — which also requires a pinch of salt — demonstrates a compressive strength of 72 Megapascals (MPa), more than twice the 32 MPa exhibited by ordinary concrete, the researchers said. Starcrete made from moon dust was even stronger at over 91 MPa.
The performance suggests the material would be strong enough to build dwellings capable of withstanding the impact of smallish meteorites and also shelter unfortunate human inhabitants from cosmic rays. The imagined buildings would be airtight by means of "lightweight, inflatable habitats by countering the extreme thermal and pressure differences between indoor and outdoor environments," the paper said.
[6]Cosmic rays more likely to glitch out water-cooled computers
[7]NASA spots first evidence of an active volcano on Venus – in a big pile of CD-ROMs
[8]Reg fashion: Here's what the well-dressed astronaut will wear on the Moon in 2025
[9]MIT researchers propose modular, multi-mission Moon robots
These being engineers, they have even come up with their own acronym for the product. Their proposed building material is called extraterrestrial regolith biocomposite, or ERB for short.
Of course, it is within the scope of current scientific understanding that humans exploring Mars are almost certain not to find potatoes there. The paper assumes future interplanetary explorers will grow them, but offers scant detail.
“Since starch is the primary constituent of staple foods such as rice, potatoes, and maize, any sustained off-world habitat will likely have the capability to produce starch as food for inhabitants,” the research said. ®
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"StarCrete", which is made from dust, plus potato starch, and a pinch of salt.
Here we [1]can see a video of the futuristic AI robots constructing some StarCrete on Mars from those ingredients.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4lJlHjoKWU
Growing potates in space
"The paper assumes future interplanetary explorers will grow them [potatoes], but offers scant detail."
Matt Damon managed it.
You missed the best bit
Originally they were proposing using astronauts' blood for the concrete. This led to the boggleworthy quote in TechXplore
While the resulting material had a compressive strength of around 40 MPa, which is better than normal concrete, the process had the drawback of requiring blood on a regular basis. When operating in an environment as hostile as space, this option was seen as less feasible than using potato starch.
Potato starch?
Have you tried getting dried porridge off plates and pans? I suspect the power of the Mighty Oat(TM) has not yet been tested!
Re: Potato starch?
Or even the mighty dried-on Weetabix - humanity has yet to find a stronger material
Sorry ...
Expect the Martian builders will need a few chippies
Then potatoes are what you need, according to researchers at Manchester University.
So in other words these researchers watched a blockbuster movie and then scienced the shit out of it?
"StarCrete" ??
Which belatedly impetuous non-entity coined that particular neologism?
We've only made it to one 'star' thus far in our existance as a (relatively) rational species capable of extra-planetary travel, and that's only by proxy.
If you call it 'StarCrete' now - what are you going to call the new stuff when actually make it to a different star and come up with something new?
StarCrete 2.0 ??
Re: "StarCrete" ??
Galaxy (re)bar?
Giant Igloos???
That compressive strength 'better than concrete' is all well and good, but concrete lacks in tensile strength (which is why modern buildings use steel inside the concrete), and I suspect this 'starcrete' will have similair properties. Seeing as mining and refining metal directly on the moon / Mars is still many centuries in the future, and we really don't want to have to launch thousands of tuns of steel up a gravity well, the buildings there are going to have to use a domed structure, which allows for the use of material with very low tensile strength and high compressive strength.
The relatively low gravity on the moon / Mars would probably allow larger structures as well, since there's less force on the structure per unit mass. So our space-faring grandkids are likely to be living in giant igloos!!
Re: Giant Igloos???
jmch,
You got in before me, because I decided to go have lunch before commenting... (still, it was a good lunch).
I did note that they claim for the mars rock version slightly higher flexure strength than is typical of concrete, so it might be very slightly better in tension, but yup, this stuff would seem to be good for arches and domes acting in compression, not (unless reinforced) beams and columns which are subject to bending and hence tensile forces.
Potentially, though the reinforcement might not be metal - it might be possible to use a fibre based reinforcement (Kevlar strands or similar), particularly if beams and precast and pre-stressed.
From a skim through the paper, it appears to be more water-efficient than concrete (where the water and cement react chemically - concrete doesn't dry, it hydrates), but seems to need a heat source to get the reaction to occur. Maybe that will be from the Rolls Royce Moonbase Nuclear reactor (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-64982477), which can power the air-fryer for the chips, too.
Also, we've been mucking about with concrete for a couple of thousand years and still run into problems when we used incompatible materials for the aggregates or in the cement ("concrete cancer" etc); I wonder how resilient this will be / how sensitive it is to the chemical composition of the material used for aggregate.
SpudNik?
I'll get my coat!
Why?
Assuming you have sent a nice big nuclear power plant to your Moon/Mars base you can just use the power to press the Moon/Mars dust into bricks of any shape required. All you need is lots of heat and pressure and you have a kind of glass brick but it's engineering parameters would depend on the composition of the regolith/sand used to make it. Besides, almost all of the Lunar/Mars base will be underground if they have any sense at all. It's far easier to dig and seal an environment than it is to build one from scratch when you have no effective atmosphere and LOTS of high-energy particles flying around on the surface due to zero magnetic field. Tunnel sealing will need to be done with a semi-flexible sealant that can cope with vacuum on one side and pressure on the other as well as with heat/tidal expansion/contraction and moon/mars-quakes.
The first things I would send to the Moon/Mars would be refineries. These would suck up the regolith/sand and separate out the useful materials such as Aluminium, Iron, Magnesium, and of course Oxygen. These then get stockpiled for the "builder" machines sent later on to use. Other "refineries" could dig the tunnels that would later become the base itself and refine the material that they dig out. Why lug huge quantities of starch out there just to build with?
Sounds like research invented just to pay the bills.
“Since starch is the primary constituent of staple foods such as rice, potatoes, and maize, any sustained off-world habitat will likely have the capability to produce starch as food for inhabitants,”
Not just as food. Any permanent settlement will be making drink out of all of those (it's human nature) ... there will be no "leftovers" for pseudo-concrete. Growing any of them in bulk on Mars will not just be exceedingly difficult, I would go as far as to say it'll be nonsensical to even try. In adverse conditions like that, one does not waste food on building.
Instead, use empty fuel tanks for dwellings/labs. Design the entire mission around the concept. Waste not, want not.
Mixed in a vacuum?
I take it this "StarCrete" was mixed and poured in a vacuum? Or at least an environment similar to the Moon or Mars?
So as to avoid entrained/entrapped air, with it's various gases that might, possibly, affect the chemical reactions taking place?
So as part of the advance supply drops we should send rocket loads of Smash to Mars. Reminds me of something...