Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Imagine building a base on Mars using materials harvested from your own body…
While it might sound like science fiction, researchers are discovering that human bodily fluids, including blood, urea, and tears, could be the surprising key to constructing habitats on other worlds.
These experiments were undertaken due to the monumental costs and logistical complications involved with delivering materials to other planets, with one 2017 report estimating that it may cost as much as $2 million to transport a single brick to Mars.
Particularly aimed at constructing homes for colonists on the moon and Mars, a series of experiments has found it possible to create concrete-like substances from surprising sources.
One engineer said that his team had “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.”
Imagine building a base on Mars using materials harvested from your own body…
While it might sound like science fiction, researchers are discovering that human bodily fluids, including blood, urea, and tears, could be the surprising key to constructing habitats on other worlds.
These experiments were undertaken due to the monumental costs and logistical complications involved with delivering materials to other planets, with one 2017 report estimating that it may cost as much as $2 million to transport a single brick to Mars.
Particularly aimed at constructing homes for colonists on the moon and Mars, a series of experiments has found it possible to create concrete-like substances from surprising sources.
One engineer said that his team had “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.”
