Scientists Suggest Harvesting Blood From Mars Colonists to Construct Future City

One crew member collecting blood for 72 weeks could be enough to "construct a small habitat for another crew member."

Blood Drive

Future space travelers will have to get creative to build structures on the surface of Mars. Sending all the necessary construction materials across over 140 million miles of space wouldn't just be a gargantuan undertaking, but it would be prohibitively expensive as well.

Instead, scientists have long proposed making use of the existing Martian soil to construct permanent structures.

In a paper accepted for publication in the journal Acta Astronautica, a team of researchers from Kharazmi University in Tehran, Iran, investigated eleven different types of Martian concrete or cement "based on available resources and technologies."

And one of them stands out, to say the least: AstroCrete, a previously proposed substrate made from Martian regolith mixed with the bodily fluids — the literal blood, sweat, and tears — of future Mars inhabitants.

Construction IV

The idea of using blood to reinforce mortar dates back to the ancient Romans.

"Although it is a bit strange, blood can be utilized to create strong concrete or bricks for onsite construction on Mars," the researchers wrote in the paper. "After the arrival of the first Martian inhabitants and their placement in primary structures, which can include inflatable structures, the combination of tears, blood, and sweat from the inhabitants, along with Martian regolith, can be used to produce a concrete known as AstroCrete."

The unusual material was first proposed by researchers at the University of Manchester in 2021.

"Scientists have been trying to develop viable technologies to produce concrete-like materials on the surface of Mars, but we never stopped to think that the answer might be inside us all along," said Aled Roberts, from the University of Manchester, in a statement at the time.

A special protein in human blood called human serum albumin (HAS) serves as a "vivo binder" to create a form of concrete. Meanwhile, urea, a nitrogenous product extracted from urine, could make the material even stronger.

According to the Iranian team of scientists, a single crew member could produce sufficient HAS to "construct a small habitat for another crew member" in just 72 weeks.

Best of all, the University of Manchester scientists claim that AstroCrete could be 3D printed in place, making construction even simpler.

Apart from relying on the blood, sweat, and tears of astronauts, the Iranian scientists also proposed combing the Martian landscape for calcium carbonate to create a lime mortar. Alternatively, the abundant sulfur deposits on the planet's surface could also be used to craft "sulfur concrete," a corrosion-resistant material that "can be used in salty and acid environments."

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