Indian scientists develop sustainable process for making brick-like structures on Moon
Bengaluru: A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed a sustainable process for making brick-like structures on the moon, according to IISc.
It exploits lunar soil, and uses bacteria and guar beans to consolidate the soil into possible load-bearing structures, Bengaluru-based IISc said in a statement.
"These space bricks could eventually be used to assemble structures for habitation on the moons surface, the researchers suggest," it said.
"It is really exciting because it brings two different fields biology and mechanical engineering together," says Aloke Kumar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc, one of the authors of two studies recently published in'Ceramics International'and'PLOS One'.
Space exploration has grown exponentially in the last century. With Earth's resources dwindling rapidly, scientists have only intensified their efforts to inhabit the moon and possibly other planets.
The cost of sending one pound of material to outer space isaboutRs 7.5 lakh, according to the statement.
The process developed by the IISc and ISRO team uses urea which can be sourced from human urine and lunar soil as raw materials for construction on the moon's surface, it said.
This decreases the overall expenditure considerably.
The process also has a lower carbon footprint because it uses guar gum instead of cement for support. This could also be exploited to make sustainable bricks on Earth, it was stated.
Some micro-organisms can produce minerals through metabolic pathways.
One such bacterium, called'Sporosarcina pasteurii ' produces calcium carbonate crystals through a metabolic pathway called the ureolytic cycle: it uses urea and calcium to form these crystals as byproducts of the pathway.
"Living organisms have been involved in such mineral precipitation since the dawn of the Cambrian period, and modern science has now found a use for them," says Kumar.
To exploit this ability, Kumar and colleagues at IISc teamed up with ISRO scientists Arjun Dey and I Venugopal.
They first mixed the bacteria with a simulant of lunar soil.Then, they added the required urea and calcium sources along with gum extracted from locally-sourced guar beans.
The guar gum was added to increase the strength of the material by serving as a scaffold for carbonate precipitation.
The final product obtained after a few days of incubation was found to possess significant strength and machinability, the statement said.
"Our material could be fabricated into any freeform shape using a simple lathe.This is advantageous because this completely circumvents the need for specialised moulds a common problem when trying to make a variety of shapes by casting.
This capability could also be exploited to make intricate interlocking structures for construction on the moon, without the need for additional fastening mechanisms," explains Koushik Viswanathan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc, another author.
ThePLOSOnestudy, conceived by Rashmi Dikshit, a DBT-BioCARe Fellow at IISc, also investigated the use of other locally available soil bacteria in the place of 'S.pasteurii'.
After testing different soil samples in Bengaluru, the researchers found an ideal candidate with similar properties:'Bacillus velezensis'. Just a vial of'S.pasteurii' can cost Rs 50,000;'B.
velezensis' on the other hand, is about ten times less expensive, the researchers say.
"We have quite a distance to go before we look at extra-terrestrial habitats.Our next step is to make larger bricks with a more automated and parallel production process," says Kumar.
"Simultaneously, we would also like to further enhance the strength of these bricks and test them under varied loading conditions like impacts and possibly moonquakes."
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Medical student dies at pvt hospital after allegedly denied admission in own institute
Patna, April 10 (PTI): A student of a government medical college here who was allegedly denied admission in his own health institute after a road accident died at a private hospital on Thursday, police said.
Abhinav Pandey, a second-year student of government-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS) was injured when his motorcycle crashed into a road divider earlier this week. He was allegedly denied admission at the IGIMS for injuries he sustained in the road accident and had to be admitted to a private hospital.
Soon after the news of Abhinav's death spread, protests erupted at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday.
A police officer who did not wish to be identified said, "We did visit the IGIMS premises to bring the situation under control. We can't comment much on the death of the student since no written complaint has been submitted in this regard."
However, the protesting students, who requested anonymity, said, "Our primary grouse is that Abhinav, whose bike crashed into a road divider earlier this week, was denied admission for his injuries at the IGIMS despite being a student. Left with no choice, we had to take him to a private hospital."
Bihar Health minister Mangal Pandey and authorities at the IGIMS could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.
However, the matter was flagged by Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar at a press conference in the city where he reached as part of the state-wide 'Stop Migration and Provide Jobs' padayatra.
"One can imagine the state of affairs in Bihar's Health department. A medical student died simply because he was denied admission in his own institute. The health system in Bihar has completely collapsed," Kanhaiya told reporters.
