Construction on Mars

A family of settlers on Mars. Illustration: depositphotos.com

A pair of bacteria could turn Martian dust into building material for the first colonists

A new study in Frontiers in Microbiology suggests a biomineralization system of two bacterial species, Sporosarcina pasteurii and Chroococcidiopsis, that could produce "biological concrete" from Martian soil, provide oxygen, and contribute to closed agricultural systems and human colonization efforts.