The scientists behind the invention used simulated Martian soil mixed with potato starch and a pinch of salt to create the material, which is twice as strong as ordinary concrete and is perfectly suited for construction work in extra-terrestrial environments.

Building infrastructure in space is currently prohibitively expensive and difficult to achieve. Future space construction will need to rely on simple materials that are easily available to astronauts: StarCrete offers one possible solution.

The research team demonstrated that ordinary potato starch can act as a binder when mixed with simulated Mars dust to produce a concrete-like material. When tested, StarCrete had a compressive strength of 72 megapascals (MPa), which is over twice as strong as the 32MPa seen in ordinary concrete. Starcrete made from Moon dust was even stronger at over 91MPa.

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