Scientists have created "living bricks" for building houses on Mars

Using synthetic lichens, a team of researchers has succeeded in developing a living material that connects Martian dust into stable structures – without the need for building materials from Earth and without human intervention.

A new breakthrough in bioengineering could bring Mars closer to life not by sending materials from Earth but by growing them in local soil. Life on Mars has long captured the imagination, often described as a distant goal rooted in science fiction. But after many successful missions to the planet over the past fifty years, making this vision a reality now seems increasingly within reach.

But colonizing Mars involves more than just getting there. One of the most significant challenges lies in building structures so far from Earth. Launching spacecraft loaded with heavy building materials is neither cost-effective nor sustainable. This raises an important question: How can we build using only what Mars has to offer?

Dr. Congroy Grace Jean may have found a promising solution. She and her colleagues have been researching for many years how to create engineered living materials through biological production. They have developed a system of synthetic lichens that can create building materials independently without human input. In their latest study, they examined how this system could be used to build structures on Mars using the local regolith – a mixture of dust, sand, and rocks found there.

This breakthrough offers a revolutionary approach to extraterrestrial construction, allowing the creation of structures in extreme environments using limited local materials.

"We can build a synthetic community by mimicking natural lichens," says Jin. "We developed a way to make synthetic lichens to create biological materials that stick Martian regolith particles to structures. Then, using 3D printing, we can produce a wide range of structures, such as buildings, houses, and furniture."

Other researchers have explored various strategies for gluing Martian regolith, including methods based on magnesium, sulfur, and geopolymer compounds. But each of these techniques relies on a lot of human labor, making them impractical given the limited manpower that would be available on Mars.

Another option is to use self-growing bacterial systems. Innovations in this area include bacterial biomineralization to turn sand into a solid building material, the use of oreolytic bacteria to create calcium carbonate for brick making, and NASA's research on mycelium (fungal bodies) as a natural adhesive.

Although microbial-mediated self-growth technologies are very promising, current practices are not fully autonomous because the bacteria used are limited to a single species or strain, and therefore their survival requires a continuous supply of nutrients, meaning external intervention is necessary. Again, the lack of manpower on Mars makes this difficult.

To solve this problem, Jin's team developed a fully autonomous self-growth technology by designing a synthetic community that takes advantage of the benefits of multiple species. This system eliminates the need for external nutrient supply.

for the scientific article

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• A company has been established that seeks to build a mass colony on Mars
• Breathing a sigh of relief on Mars - the next Mars rover will carry a device for producing oxygen
• Housing for an inhabitant on... Mars?
• International competition for planning a human colony on Mars
• Will Elon Musk and SpaceX establish the first human colony on Mars?