'Brick made from bacteria' helps build houses on Mars

An Indian team of scientists combines simulated Martian soil, bacteria and other materials to create a durable brick with few pores.

Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have proposed a new way to build homes on Mars, using "bacterial bricks". In the study, published in the journal PLoS One on April 14, the team presented a plan to combine Martian soil with guar gum (a gel-like material), urea, nickel chloride and the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii.

Bacterial bricks developed by ISRO to build homes on Mars.

This is not the first strange proposal for building materials on Mars, reflecting the material scarcity of future Mars missions, while also demonstrating the need to make the most of every available resource. . Last year, a team of experts at the University of Manchester even proposed building a settlement on Mars with the blood and urine of astronauts.

In the new experiment, the ISRO team of scientists used materials simulating Martian soil and demonstrated that bacteria converted urea into calcium carbonate crystals, while also secreting a relatively sticky biopolymer. Nickel chloride helps bacteria grow despite the high iron content of Martian soil, which is often harmful to bacteria.

Sporosarcina pasteurii also allowed the team to solve the problem of porosity, one of the main obstacles to building settlements on Mars. "Bacteria penetrate deep into the pores, using their own proteins to bind particles together, reducing porosity and creating stronger bricks," said Aloke Kumar, a member of the research team. , explain.

The new material could be used as a binder for Martian soil and for building structures for future missions to the red planet. Currently, NASA plans to send people to Mars around the 2030s. SpaceX is also working on developing a reusable launch vehicle Starship, intended to launch to the Moon, followed by Mars.

The ISRO team of experts aims to launch microbial bricks into space on a future ISRO mission. In this way, they can study the properties of the new material in microgravity, and then assess whether it is suitable to spend the long journey with astronauts to Mars.