How will humans build on Mars?

A simple manufacturing technology based on chitin, one of the most common organic polymers on Earth, could be used to build tools and shelters on Mars.

If we make it to Mars, we won't be able to carry everything humans need for long periods of time or to build structures on the planet.

Building shelters and making tools, astronauts may only need to bring one key ingredient with minerals in the lifeless soil of Mars that can do the rest.

The material can be molded into different shapes.

The main ingredient is Chitin - a fibrous substance that is a constituent of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects, and the scales of fish and amphibians. This material can be molded into various shapes.

Chitin can be combined with surface soil to create a new material without special equipment and using little energy, say researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

The study also revealed that the chitin used on Mars could have come from insects. With their high protein content, insects could have been part of the diet for a crewed mission.

To test their theory, the scientists combined chitosan, an organic polymer made from shrimp, and a mineral designed to mimic the properties of Martian soil.

The production process used water and some basic chemicals. The water could be sourced from subsurface ice on Mars. Sodium hydroxide could be produced from Martian soil, and acetic acid could be produced from microbial fermentation of, for example, food waste.

'It's like concrete but much lighter,' said Javier Fernandez, assistant professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and co-author of the study.

One tool mentioned is a wrench the scientists made that isn't as strong as a metal wrench, but Fernandez said it meets NASA's criteria for non-critical space applications.

However, the team did not test the items in conditions simulating the cold, dry atmosphere of Mars.

'We have a roadmap to produce buildings to tools from 3D printing to molding with just a single material ,' the scientists added.