New Delhi: A team of scientists from the University of Manchester have developed a way to create a concrete-like material made of extraterrestrial dust along with the blood, sweat and tears of astronauts.
Their advance may help solve a crucial problem in setting up Martian colonies.
Transporting a single brick to Mars can cost more than USD 2 million US, making the future construction of a Martian colony extremely expensive.
In a new study, the team describes that a protein from human blood (human serum albumin) combined with urea (a compound from urine, sweat or tears) could glue together simulated moon or Mars soil to produce a material stronger than ordinary concrete, which would be perfectly suited for construction work in extra-terrestrial environments.
The resulting novel material has been termed AstroCrete.
Scientists calculated that over 500 kg of high-strength AstroCrete could be produced over the course of a two-year mission on the surface of Mars by a crew of six astronauts.
If the AstroCrete were to be used as a mortar for sandbags or heat-fused regolith bricks, each crew member could produce enough of it to expand the habitat to support an additional crew member, doubling the housing available with each successive mission. Read more
Amber sample preserves mother spider protecting her hatchlings
Researchers from the Capital Normal University in China found a 99-million-year-old amber sample that preserved a mother spider protecting her young.
Many modern spider species have been found to take measures to ensure the survival of their offspring; females have been seen crouching to cover hatchlings, and tying eggs closely together using their silk.
In this study, researchers found evidence of a mother spider, from what is known as the mid-Cretaceous period, exhibiting the same behaviour.
The researchers found four chunks of amber that had been extracted from a mine in Myanmar that contained entombed spiders.
In one of the chunks, they found an adult female with a bit of her egg sac still intact underneath her body. The researchers also noted that the female was in a stance very similar to that of modern female spiders who are engaged in protecting their eggs from predators. A closer look showed the female had also used her own silk to tie the eggs together.
The three other chunks of amber contained baby spiders and spider thread. One also had what appeared to be an arthropod leg and a wasp. The researchers suggest it is likely that each chunk of amber holds related spiderlings all of which have been identified as members of the same species. Read more .