Scientists succeed in creating concrete to build on mars

Living on Mars may sound like a notion that is still far from reality, but the idea just got some weight, thanks to scientists successfully creating concrete that could be used to build properties on the red planet.

The material was developed by a team led by Lin Wan at Northwestern University, answering the simple question: what could be used to build things on our distant, red cousin? They found their futuristic answer by looking to the past, when sulphur-based concrete was in vogue.

Sulfur-based concrete was initially dismissed by engineers, as when the sulphur cools, it shrinks, which creates little cavities in the material, weakening it considerably. And, in a vacuum, it has a worrying habit of sublimating from a solid directly into a gas, which is why it was not used to build things on the moon.

On Mars, though, the material could be the answer to Martian architects' dreams - after all, water will too precious a resource to pump into making regular concrete. The Martian soil, meanwhile, which was emulated by Wan's team in a lab, can form a substance that is strong enough to be used for building, using an aggregate to stabilise the mix.

There are other advantages, notes MIT's Technology Review, such as being able to recycle the concrete just by heating it, so that the sulphur melts.

"The first human missions to Mars are a good few years away yet. But it’s just possible that the first humans to live in these structures have already been born and are currently growing up in rather different buildings on Earth," concludes the intelligent folk at MIT.

"All we need now are a new generation of Martian architects to design buildings made of Martian concrete that will be suitable structures for humans to live and work in."