Made in India : Special Bricks Made By ‘Indian Scientists’ For Construction On Moon

   

The IISc issued a statement stating that this brick-like structure has been made from soil found on the moon. Bacteria and guar beans have been used to make this special type of brick. IISc states that “These space bricks will be used in construction work to stay on the lunar surface.”

Alok Kumar, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc, said, “It is really exciting, because it brings together two different fields of biology and mechanical engineering,” He said that space exploration has gained momentum in the last century.

He said, With Earth’s resources dwindling rapidly, scientists have only intensified their efforts to inhabit the moon and possibly other planets. According to the statement, the cost of sending one pound of material to outer space is about ₹ 7.5 lakh, according to the statement.

The process developed by the IISc and ISRO team uses urea which can be sourced from human urine and lunar soil as raw materials for construction on the moon’s surface. This reduces spending.

This decreases the overall expenditure considerably. The process also has a lower carbon footprint because it uses guar gum instead of cement for support. It can be used to make durable bricks on earth. Some microbes can produce minerals through metabolism. The guar gum was added to increase the strength of the material by serving as a scaffold for carbonate precipitation.

One such bacterium, called ”Sporosarcina pasteurii” produces calcium carbonate crystals through a metabolic pathway called the ureolytic cycle: it uses urea and calcium to form these crystals as byproducts of the pathway.