How do bacteria help build a home on Mars?
bacteria on Earth are promoting a variety of activities, and now a group of researchers are suggesting that they could be used on Mars, and even with their help at home and Man-made habitat.
When humans go to Mars, they will need a home and a place to live. Various methods have been proposed to build these habitats, but in a new study, a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has proposed a new method using bacteria.
Has been published, showing How the "space bricks" needed to build a habitat on the Red Planet can be made with a combination of local Martian soil, bacteria and urea, a waste compound excreted in mammalian urine. To build these "space bricks" on the Red Planet, these specialists "slurred" Martian simulated soil made from guar gum (a product of processed guar gum) with urea, chemical nickel chloride. And the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii.
However, with the new method in which the grout mixture is hardened in any desired mold, they are able to make bricks in any shape.
After remaining in the mold for several days, a chemical reaction of "slurry" It turns into a solid "space brick". Inside the mixture, bacteria and urea react together, and crystallization of urea forms calcium carbonate crystals. A chemical compound that is often used as a calcium supplement but also makes up biological structures such as skeletons, shells, and eggshells. Are, join together to form a cement-like compound that holds the simulated Martian soil particles tightly together. The team also added nickel chloride after finding that it facilitated the growth of bacteria in the soil mixture, adding the compound to the mixture. "Martian soil contains a lot of iron, which makes organisms toxic. At first, our bacteria did not grow at all. But the addition of nickel chloride was a key step in the proper hosting of the soil for bacteria. "
Bricks made with the help of
bacteriaCredit: Nitin Gupta, PhD student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc
With the new method, the team successfully" Space Bricks " It works, but before using such a technique on the Red Planet, researchers will have to do a lot of experiments. Scientists want to find out How bricks react to the Martian environment, especially the planet's very thin atmosphere, which is mostly carbon dioxide, as well as its very low gravity.
Mars Atmosphere (MARS), which recreates Martian atmospheric conditions in a controlled laboratory environment. In addition, a microchip device has been developed to measure and study the activity of bacteria in space.
On the other hand, one of the concerns that this study has not yet addressed is the protection of planets concerned about Earth pollution. Is. Scientists need to make sure that space missions do not carry any unwanted bacteria or other contaminants that could affect scientific findings or even harm the universe itself. Protecting the planet also requires taking steps to prevent the spacecraft from bringing anything unwanted to Earth. li>
Therefore, it is not yet possible to explain How this method complies with the planet protection guidelines. Especially on Mars, where these rules are too strict to prevent the activity of probes such as NASA's persistent astronauts, who are actively seeking evidence from ancient microscopic life.> Credit: Dottedhippo/Getty Images
Source: Space
