Space Bricks

In News

• Indian Space Research Organisation and the Indian Institute of Science have developed a sustainable process of making bricks on the moon.

About

• Bricks
  • The process uses urea, lunar soil, bacteria and guar beans in the making of these bricks.
• Process
  • The process of creating these bricks involves using urea which can be readily found in human urine and mixing it with lunar soil are the raw materials.
  • Adding guar gum that is extracted from guar beans.
  • Another option is using a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii, they found, which produces calcium carbonate crystals through a metabolic pathway called the ureolytic cycle.
• Significance
  • It could be useful in building self-sustaining structures on the moon.
  • Many countries have hopes of sending humans to the moon, Mars and the outer planets of our solar system.
  • ISRO is working on sending the first human being to orbit in the Gaganyaan mission, slated for 2022.

Source: FE