Martian Concrete is an innovation developed by a team of researchers led by Gianluca Cusatis from Northwestern University. The two researchers made martian concrete using materials that available on Mars. Martian concrete is able to withstand a strength of 50 MPa which is stronger compared to Ordinary sulfur concrete which only can withstand the strength of 20 Mpa. Mars concrete does not need water as a material for its construction. The way to make mars concrete is to heat the sulfur to a temperature of 240 degrees Celsius so that the sulfur melts, then the soil in Mars will act as aggregate. When Martian Concrete cools or freezes, it turns into Martian Concrete.

Previously, in the 1970s, researchers had studied the possibility of using sulfur concrete to carry out construction on the moon, but they failed to do it because they realized that sulfur would evaporate when it was in a vacuum. This is what led Northwestern University researchers to wonder if sulfur concrete could be used on Mars. Martian Concrete provides several advantages, namely that it can be used many times because it can be recycled by melting the sulfur content. Mars concrete is also easy to form and uses a low cost to produce.

REFERENCES

Materials Scientists Make Martian Concrete. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from www.technologyreview.com/2016/01/05/109321/materials-scientists-make-martian-concrete/amp/

Morris, A. (2016, January 08). Building Concrete Shelters on Mars. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2016/01/building-concrete-shelters-on-mars.html