Super-hard concrete is made from potatoes, salt, and extraterrestrial dust

Scientists at the University of Manchester in the UK have ‘developed’ acosmic concrete‘ brick-like, made of potato starch, salt, and extraterrestrial dust. The blocks are so strong and durable that they could be used to build houses on Mars or even the Moon, according to the team’s preliminary tests.

Nickname ‘star creteThe simulated extraterrestrial is a mixture of dried potato starch and a pinch of salt. The result is a brick that is twice as strong as conventional concrete and perfectly suited for construction in extraterrestrial environments.

In a paper published in the journal Open Engineering, the team showed that ordinary potato starch when mixed with simulated dust from Mars acts as a binder, producing a concrete-like material.

When tested, StarCrete’s compressive strength 72 Megapascals (MPa)more than twice 32 MPa seen in ordinary concrete. HE star crete those made with simulated moon dust were even more powerful; 91 MPa.

According to scientists, one sack of potatoes contains enough starch to produce more than 1000 grams. 213 blocks StarCrete.

Previous studies of scientists had used astronauts’ blood and urine as binding agents to create the material, but the process of regularly requiring blood to form bricks for architectural purposes was not so feasible.

“Since we will be producing starch as food for astronauts, it makes sense to look at it as a binding agent rather than human blood. In addition, current construction technologies still need many years of development and require significant amounts of energy and additional heavy processing equipment, which can add up to the cost of a mission. and it adds complexity.” Bioproduction Research Center of the Future from the University of Manchester.

The next steps of the project are to work and experiment with its use. star crete in scenarios and reality builds to fully test your endurance. Roberts and his team recently DeakinBioA company that is looking for ways to improve StarCrete so it can be used in terrestrial environments.