March: the colonies may be built with the blood of the settlers

You’ve probably heard of the famous line Winston Churchill said that he had nothing to offer other than ” blood, toil, tears and sweat “. Even though the British statesman uttered this sentence in 1940, it still resonates today, but in an entirely different field than that of politics: space.

Space.com recently reported that the first colonies on the Moon and Mars could develop thanks, literally, to the blood, sweat and tears of pioneer astronauts. While this revelation may sound intriguing, there is one that is even more appalling.

Indeed, a new study has found that tough bricks can be made by combining lunar or Martian dirt with a protein found in human blood and a compound called “urea” found in sweat, tears, or urine.

Concrete built with space waste and human blood

NASA officials have been unequivocal. Transporting everything a human outpost would need to the Moon or Mars would be far too expensive and time consuming. The solution to establishing a lasting presence in other worlds would then be to live off the earth.

Aled Roberts, lead author of the controversial study, and a researcher at the University of Manchester said in a statement that “ scientists have tried to develop viable technologies to produce concrete-like materials on the surface of Mars, but we have never stopped thinking that the answer may have been within us forever ».

And it’s not figuratively. Indeed, Roberts and his colleagues managed to make an experimental concrete in the lab using simulated lunar and martian dirt and using a protein called “human serum albumin” or HSA, which is found in blood plasma.

Can astronauts take this extra stress?

This composition resulted in “alien regolith biocomposites” or ERBs as strong as ordinary concrete, say the scientists in their study. More so, Roberts and his colleagues found that by adding urea to the mixture, ERBs became considerably stronger than concrete.

According to scientists, ” if HSA-ERBs were used as a mortar and combined with a sandbag-based construction method, our calculations suggest that every crew member – during a 72-week Mars mission – could produce enough HSA to build a living space. This could allow the constant expansion of a nascent Martian colony ».

However, more research will be needed to determine the impact of regular blood donation by astronauts. Especially since the latter are already undergoing stress factors such as higher doses of radiation and psychological effects linked to isolation. Scientists nonetheless try to reassure that although HSA-ERBs could potentially play an important role in a native Martian colony, they ” will eventually be replaced by versatile bioreactors or other technologies as they evolve ».