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SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Material Choices for Mars

Mars paper

XII. Mars Minerals, Space Plants and Mars Activities
A. Mars Minerals
The composition of Mars has a diversity of mineral resources tabulated below. Based on the ease of accessibility and extraction, we can set up numerous fabrication plants on the planetary surface. Some of the accessible minerals and their applications listed below.

Table 1 Mars Minerals and their Applications

S.No    Minerals          Applications
01. Olivine         Refractory Materials
02. Marcasite         Diamond and Graphite
03. Feldspar           Dinnerware, Bathroom, and building tiles, Glass production, Flux
04. Ilmenite          Aircraft parts, Titanium metal, Reflective pigments, Synthetic rutile
05. Akaganeite          Adsorption of arsenic to prevent pollution
06. Hematite         Storage Devices, Electrical components, Inorganic pigments
07. Magnetite         Water purification, Biomedical, and environmental applications
08. Goethite        Cleaning chemical elements in polluted water
09. Saponite           Water Decontamination, Rubber, Cosmetics, and Medicine
10. Montmorillonite     Nuclear applications, Cotton fiber, Adsorption in heavy metals and dyes
11. Serpentinite         Architecture, Ornaments, Asbestos
12. Illite               Ceramics, Tiles
13. Keiserite         Cleaning hard water, Epsom salt, Fertilizer
14. Gypsum          Cement, Plaster of Paris

Calliban

Member

From: Northern England, UK

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3,793

Re: Material Choices for Mars

Interesting post from Low Tech magazine.

https://www.notechmagazine.com/2011/12/ … -sudu.html

'The ‘Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit’ (SUDU) in Ethiopia demonstrates that it is possible to construct multi-story buildings using only soil and stone. By combining timbrel vaults and compressed earth blocks, there is no need for steel, reinforced concrete or even wood to support floors, ceilings and roofs. The SUDU could be a game-changer for African cities, where population grows fast and building materials are scarce.'

These structures appear to be constructed from stone, compressed soil blocks, tiles and crude mortar.  A useful set of techniques for construction  on early Mars.  Also, from the same site:

https://www.notechmagazine.com/2013/03/ … aults.html

A type of sloped barrel vault, typically built from adobe without need for any supporting formwork.  On Mars, we could substitute compressed soil blocks for sun dried adobe, or maybe even sorted natural stone and mortar made from filtered soil and water.

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"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Material Choices for Mars

Thanks for the magazine links. The walls are quite thick and with windows. Not sure even being thick is all it take to withstand mars.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Material Choices for Mars

The surface of Mars in 32 slides

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Material Choices for Mars

Rock samples from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover contain key ingredient of life
https://www.space.com/curiosity-mars-ro … ients-life

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Releasing One of Its Last Rainbow-Colored Maps
http://spaceref.com/mars/mars-reconnais … -maps.html

Older discussion
Potential Resources of Mars
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=7316