Engineers investigate a simple, no-bake recipe to make bricks from Martian soil

Date: April 27, 2017

Source: University of California - San Diego

Summary: Explorers planning to settle on Mars might be able to turn the planet's soil into bricks without needing to use an oven or additional ingredients. Instead, they would need to apply pressure to compact the soil--the equivalent of a blow from a hammer.

FULL STORY

---

This is a brick made of Martian soil simulant compacted under pressure. The brick was made without any additional ingredients and without baking.

Credit: Jacobs School of Engineering/UC San Diego

Explorers planning to settle on Mars might be able to turn the planet's red soil into bricks without needing to use an oven or additional ingredients. Instead, they would just need to apply pressure to compact the soil -- the equivalent of a blow from a hammer.