Bricks made of dust from the Moon and Mars could make space buildings

Baking a mixture of saltwater and materials that mimic dust from the moon or Mars at a high temperature produced sturdy bricks that could be used to build human habitats in space

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Bricks made of a mix of saltwater and dust from the moon or Mars can withstand enough pressure to be used in any future extraterrestrial construction. But astronauts planning on making these will need to figure out how to bake them first.

Ranajay Ghosh at the University of Central Florida and his colleagues wanted to know if the dust and loose rocks on the moon and Mars, known as regolith, could be made into sturdy …