Find a way to create concrete with materials on Mars

By heating sulfur at twice its melting point, scientists believe they can create concrete from Mars's material , enabling the construction of solid buildings on it to serving missions that bring people to permanent settlement in the future.

If the creation of concrete underneath the Earth is normal but on Mars it is not simple because there is no water - something so luxury for a dry and cold planet like Mars. However, concrete is one of the most feasible materials to build sustainable buildings on Mars and if it is possible to produce concrete from the on-site material, the better.

And recently, Dr. Lin Wan and colleagues at Northwestern University have found a way to create concrete on Mars by heating sulfur to a temperature of 240 degrees Celsius , twice its melting point. Meanwhile, liquid sulfur will be mixed with abundant source of rock on Mars into a "special concrete" then cooled. Now, sulfur and soil will bind together to form a solid concrete block.

Sulfur concrete also has the property of being extremely durable and capable of withstanding high compressive strength.

In fact, the idea of ​​making concrete from sulfur has been around since the last century, but due to certain challenges, it has not been widely accepted. One of the main reasons is that sulfur will shrink when solidified, creating pressure to break the structure. Previously in a study on building structures with materials on the Moon, scientists have found that sulfur will sublimate (moving straight from solid to gas, bypassing liquid steps) in a vacuum. This means that concrete blocks can dissolve themselves after forming. However, for the atmosphere of Mars, the conditions will be very different.

In one experiment, Dr. Lin's team re-simulated Mars soil by using primarily a mixture of silicon dioxide, aluminum dioxide and some other suitable minerals. Then they began to apply sulfur melting, forming concrete, thereby collecting data, determining its physical and chemical properties. Finally, the group formed the Martian sulfur concrete mix formula they deem appropriate: "The most appropriate rate is 50% sulfur and 50% Mars soil with a maximum aggregate size of 1mm ".

Sulfur concrete also has the property of being extremely durable and capable of withstanding compressive strength twice as high as standard concrete for construction projects below Earth. On the other hand, if you don't need to use the building, you can still melt it to recycle to build another one. And most importantly, the production of sulfur concrete is several times cheaper than bringing materials from Earth to Mars for construction. Scientists believe that this is a breakthrough success, bringing Mars plan closer to reality.