Space Bricks
Recently, researchers from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) developed a way to make bricks from Martian soil with the help of bacteria and urea.
- These ‘space bricks’ can be used to construct building-like structures on Mars that could facilitate human settlement on the red planet.
Process
- Slurry: The team first made the slurry by mixing Martian soil with guar gum, a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii, urea and nickel chloride (NiCl2).
- Role of Bacteria: This slurry can be poured into moulds of any desired shape, and over a few days the bacteria convert the ....