The first human shelter on Mars will be the space station, which is made on earth; how about the second one and after? What will the shelters be made of? The maximum load capacity of a rocket to Mars is now only one metric ton; it is unlikely to deliver raw materials and machineries to make concrete or steel on the Mars. So we proposed a temperature-dependent hydrogel to bind sands, which are abundant in situ on Martian surface. The prototype has been developed. It hardens at relatively temperature to take load; when heated it melts and becomes recyclable for constructions at a new location.
In this proposed project, we will enhance the mechanical properties of the hydrogel-based bricks and recyclability of the gel itself. We are going to study and optimize its microstructures of the brick, by both experimental and numerical methods. This will be a multi-year project, the enrolled students are welcome to continue in the future UROPs (for both summer sessions and spring/fall sessions) or FYPs.