{"id":4139,"date":"2021-10-07T10:10:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T09:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/science-engineering\/?p=4139"},"modified":"2023-06-21T09:17:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T08:17:06","slug":"blood-from-a-stone-no-but-it-could-make-bricks-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/science-engineering\/2021\/10\/07\/blood-from-a-stone-no-but-it-could-make-bricks-on-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood from a stone? No, but it could make bricks \u2013 on Mars!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Housing here on Earth can seem expensive enough, but on Mars? Well, it would be astronomical<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In fact, it’s estimated that to transport a single brick to Mars would cost in excess of \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n

New research<\/a> involving scientists from The University of Manchester, however, has proposed a very different, much cheaper way of getting building materials to other planets \u2013 and it involves a lot of blood, sweat and tears.<\/p>\n

Quite literally.<\/p>\n

\"Space<\/p>\n

Blood-curdling research<\/h2>\n

As the old saying goes, you can’t get blood from a stone \u2013 but can the same be said for bricks? According to the research, published in Materials Today Bio<\/a>, perhaps not.<\/p>\n

And the concept, explains Dr Aled Roberts of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology<\/a> and the Department of Chemistry<\/a>, is “literally blood-curdling”.<\/p>\n

Step (or space walk) forward: the astronauts themselves.<\/p>\n

Researchers demonstrated that human serum albumin, a common protein from blood plasma, can help to bind simulated Moon or Mars dust in order to create AstroCrete \u2013 a novel concrete-like material.<\/p>\n

What’s more, the compressive strength of the material could be boosted by more than 300% with the incorporation of urea, a biological waste product excreted through \u2013 yep, you guessed it \u2013 urine (and sweat and tears).<\/p>\n