Yeast, gelatin, and sand used for construction on Mars

Scientists in Hong Kong have developed an innovative biological building material that could enable the future construction of bases and structures on the Red Planet. According to TASS, citing the South China Morning Post, this new technology aims to drastically reduce the need to transport heavy equipment and massive amounts of construction materials from Earth to space. This was reported by Ixbt.com reports .

The project was carried out by researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under the leadership of Professor Qiu Jizhen. The experts created a special mixture, the main components of which include genetically modified yeast, gelatin hydrogel, and sand or other granular particles.

Testing in Martian conditions and the advantages of the technology

Building structures on Mars poses enormous engineering challenges. Considering that the planet's atmospheric density is less than one percent of Earth's and surface temperatures drop below minus fifty degrees, it is clear that traditional methods require too much energy. Therefore, scientists proposed a special material that can be shaped using a 3D printer.

Researchers tested the technology by creating a small structure in a climate chamber where the pressure was one-hundredth of Earth's atmosphere and the temperature was minus thirty degrees. The main advantage of the new technology is its energy efficiency. Calculations show that solar panels can collect the energy required to produce one cubic meter of material in less than an hour.

Raw materials and future plans

For now, it is impossible to completely abandon deliveries from Earth. Producing one cubic meter of material requires tens of kilograms of imported raw materials. Seventy to eighty percent of this consists of gelatin, and the rest is the nutrient medium for the yeast. In the future, scientists are working on synthesizing the necessary organic components directly on Mars.

If carbon dioxide, methane, and water ice can be processed to produce gelatin and nutrients, the need to transport raw materials from Earth will be reduced to almost zero. This promising technology could be useful not only for colonizing other planets but also on Earth.

In particular, researchers are exploring the possibility of using this material to build research stations in remote Antarctica, where transporting heavy construction materials is difficult and expensive.