Project Team
Students
Joseph Romagnoli
Multidisciplinary Engineering
Penn State Abington
Faculty Mentors
Masataka Okutsu
Penn State Abington
Engineering
Juan Pablo Gevaudan Burgos
Penn State University Park
Architectural Engineering
Project
Project Video
Project Abstract
Human exploration and settlement of Mars may require a pressurized, radiation-shielding surface habitat to be robotically constructed in advance of the crew’s arrival. One candidate construction material is Martian sulfur concrete or Marscrete, made by mixing Martian regolith (soil) with molten sulfur as a binding agent. Marscrete is a relatively new material, with production methods still being developed, and literature on its physical properties is limited. This research improves on a prior study of Marscrete from Penn State by testing larger specimens in greater numbers, which were fabricated with a more consistent regolith-sulfur mixture ratio and temperature control. New steel molds were fabricated, and a new heating, mixing and pouring procedure was designed. Compression testing was performed on 24 Marscrete samples made from three grain sizes of Martian regolith simulant, measuring ultimate strength and elastic modulus. The results indicate an ultimate strength of 48-67 MPa and elastic modulus of 4.3-5.3 GPa, depending on grain size.
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