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Mars shelter problem can be solved with engineered yeast, gelatin and sand: paper (www.scmp.com)
submitted 4 weeks ago by to c/nottheonion@sh.itjust.works
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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/83318

Future settlers on Mars would need houses, but they must either spend huge sums transporting construction materials from Earth or use enormous amounts of energy to melt Martian soil into bricks. Scientists in Hong Kong say they have developed a quick and low-cost “living” building material made from genetically engineered yeast, gelatin and sand that can be 3D printed under conditions simulating the Martian environment. Their study, published online last month in Chem Circularity, an...

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[–] 7 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

The only way people are going to survive radiation exposure on Mars for the first decade or two is in underground shelters. A few inches of fancy mud isn't going to cut it. There's no magnetic field and hardly any atmosphere. You want several feet of rock between you and space.

Once there's enough refined metal available for shielding you could spend more time above ground. Until that point you'd better diggy diggy hole.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 child)

    Did not see your comment before I posted mine. Almost completely agree, I only think it won’t take decades, I think it’s going to be a lot more.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

    Eh, I figure putting up enough shielding to have some above-ground structures will be a priority. It won't be the whole planet or even a city, it will mostly be industrial things that people don't want to live with in the underground shelters, and of course exploration and research. Workspaces where people spend 4-ish hours of a day maybe twice a week above ground, and the rest below.

    I agree it will probably be longer before people are living above ground regularly.

    *Edit: the first few generations will probably experience abnormally high cancer rates even if they're very conservative and overcautious. There will be a lot of exposures and unpredictable interactions with the new environment. No matter how much data we collect beforehand, there will be things we can't possibly know until we try.

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