> Recently, corn starch was employed as a binder for inorganic aggregates such as sand and limestone powder. Termed CoRncrete, these materials displayed impressive compressive strengths as high as 30 MPa; however, moisture sensitivity remained a key weakness for practical Earth-based applications.
> Having extremely limited amounts of water, the issue of moisture sensitivity is irrelevant for the Lunar and Martian environments – meaning a CoRncrete-like material could be well-suited for extraterrestrial construction. Furthermore, since starch is the primary constituent of staple foods such as rice, potatoes, and maize (corn), any sustained off-world habitat will likely have the capability to produce starch as food for inhabitants. To mitigate risks such as crop failure or poor yields, a surplus of starch will likely be produced under ordinary conditions: the use of surplus starch as a binder for regolith would therefore avoid the need for additional construction material fabrication equipment and supporting infrastructure.
I think someone from the IgNobel award committee wrote that headline?
We already know how to use feces in making bricks; see the link. I participated in a construction project in Ecuador where cow dung was used in making mortar, so I know it can be done. Sure, feces can be used as fertilizer; both should be explored for use on the Moon and Mars.
A SpaceX representative has done the math and while potatoes make better bricks, human blood is cheaper. So if you'd like to be part of Elons new Mars colony sign up for our mission at your local human grind^H^H^H.. gathering center!
Science fiction already covered why you don't want 'Libertarian' billionaire types running your mars colony, so of course valley billionaires want to do it:
Just another instance of the Torment Nexus meme and valley sensibilities.
I remember when I admired these people and we didn't have civilizational wide meme's about how evil they are. Sad how things turned out. If only it could have been different. But that would require, you know, basic human compassion when instead they could just build bunkers and distant Hawaiian island escape compounds. And we can't blame them really, it's in their nature. They can't resist taking the wrong lesson from science fiction dystopias and they played Fallout.
This seems to be targeted at other planets, not space-space.
For space use I always wondered about how one could slice up nickel iron asteroids into 50x50x100cm blocks and then start building things out of those. Assuming you can do a clean cut the surface wouldn't oxidize so they should just contact weld back together.
Slicing process left as an exercise to the reader.
I've heard of that approach. Not sure if it was Clarke, I always figured you'd need a lot of pressure to do that and it would be tricky to stop it from leaking out holes.
Another idea I had was making a sphere of chicken wire around a small comet. If you melted the comet would the water go out and condense onto the chicken wire eventually making a huge hollow sphere of ice.
It still could be useful in Ukraine to make use of all the blood and meat Russia sends everyday... 1000-1400 casualties every day or ~435k/y. They send specialist drone operators and even FSB and carrier naval units to the front on essentially suicide missions.
Sometimes I fantasize about what lunar architecture might look like. Low gravity will enable architects to do pretty wild things. But with this material it may be even wilder.
there were plans for extrusion spinning out vast
orbiting fresnle lenses that could then be used to
sinter,whatever/any planetary surface materials
and presumably there is a way to automate most of the process of providing material and filling and emptying molds
but hey potatoes gota be better than count brickula
Study is here: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/eng-2022-0390...
> Recently, corn starch was employed as a binder for inorganic aggregates such as sand and limestone powder. Termed CoRncrete, these materials displayed impressive compressive strengths as high as 30 MPa; however, moisture sensitivity remained a key weakness for practical Earth-based applications.
> Having extremely limited amounts of water, the issue of moisture sensitivity is irrelevant for the Lunar and Martian environments – meaning a CoRncrete-like material could be well-suited for extraterrestrial construction. Furthermore, since starch is the primary constituent of staple foods such as rice, potatoes, and maize (corn), any sustained off-world habitat will likely have the capability to produce starch as food for inhabitants. To mitigate risks such as crop failure or poor yields, a surplus of starch will likely be produced under ordinary conditions: the use of surplus starch as a binder for regolith would therefore avoid the need for additional construction material fabrication equipment and supporting infrastructure.
I think someone from the IgNobel award committee wrote that headline?
I was going to say a demented AI wrote the headline.
It gave me flashbacks of the Aliens in Satisfactory
>> The blood and urine of astronauts, after all, are renewable resources, and they're available wherever an astronaut's mission might take them.
I think the blood takes a bit more time to renew? Or are they expecting, uh, a bit more sacrifice...
>> "Astronauts probably don't want to be living in houses made from scabs and urine," he said in a statement.
Wow, if some offshoot of that Aztec religion had made it to space, things could indeed be very Warhammer 40k out there. ;)
I guess the use of astronauts' blood would make it... Khorne-crete?
Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!
Corncrete already exists https://research.tudelft.nl/en/publications/corncrete-a-corn...
We already know how to use feces in making bricks; see the link. I participated in a construction project in Ecuador where cow dung was used in making mortar, so I know it can be done. Sure, feces can be used as fertilizer; both should be explored for use on the Moon and Mars.
https://www.sciencealert.com/using-biosolids-for-bricks-coul...
A SpaceX representative has done the math and while potatoes make better bricks, human blood is cheaper. So if you'd like to be part of Elons new Mars colony sign up for our mission at your local human grind^H^H^H.. gathering center!
Science fiction already covered why you don't want 'Libertarian' billionaire types running your mars colony, so of course valley billionaires want to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8lT-Sn-HqE
Just another instance of the Torment Nexus meme and valley sensibilities.
I remember when I admired these people and we didn't have civilizational wide meme's about how evil they are. Sad how things turned out. If only it could have been different. But that would require, you know, basic human compassion when instead they could just build bunkers and distant Hawaiian island escape compounds. And we can't blame them really, it's in their nature. They can't resist taking the wrong lesson from science fiction dystopias and they played Fallout.
Your post reminds me of the song Rät by Penelope Scott
I'm glad Elon's plans aren't totally ruined as the end of the article says the space bricks will in part be made of human tears.
This seems to be targeted at other planets, not space-space.
For space use I always wondered about how one could slice up nickel iron asteroids into 50x50x100cm blocks and then start building things out of those. Assuming you can do a clean cut the surface wouldn't oxidize so they should just contact weld back together.
Slicing process left as an exercise to the reader.
Was it Artur C Clarke who suggested melting an asteroid and blowing a huge bubble from it?
I've heard of that approach. Not sure if it was Clarke, I always figured you'd need a lot of pressure to do that and it would be tricky to stop it from leaking out holes.
Another idea I had was making a sphere of chicken wire around a small comet. If you melted the comet would the water go out and condense onto the chicken wire eventually making a huge hollow sphere of ice.
Related submission currently on the top of the front page:
CoRncrete: A corn starch based building material https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41752020 - Today (53 comments)
That sounds more productive than just pumping corn into our cars
That's gotta be a huge relief for the redshirts on the first few Starships to Mars.
It is notable that human blood concrete was still found to be stronger than ordinary concrete.
It still could be useful in Ukraine to make use of all the blood and meat Russia sends everyday... 1000-1400 casualties every day or ~435k/y. They send specialist drone operators and even FSB and carrier naval units to the front on essentially suicide missions.
Wow that's dark.
Sometimes I fantasize about what lunar architecture might look like. Low gravity will enable architects to do pretty wild things. But with this material it may be even wilder.
I’m still waiting for the inevitable Lunar Basketball Stadium. I’m mostly convinced that alone will fund space exploration for the coming decades.
Mark Watney approves.
there were plans for extrusion spinning out vast orbiting fresnle lenses that could then be used to sinter,whatever/any planetary surface materials and presumably there is a way to automate most of the process of providing material and filling and emptying molds but hey potatoes gota be better than count brickula
What a headline.
Are thy trying for an ignoble prize? Because this is how you get an ignoble prize.
[flagged]
That's CoRny...
I disagree