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Bacterial Growth Induced Biocementation Technology, 'Space Brick' - A Proposal For Experiment At Microgravity And Planetary Environments

Kumar, A.; Dikshit, R.; Gupta, N.; Jain, A.; Dey, A.; Nandi, A.; Venugopal, I.; Viswanathan, K.; Sridhara, N.; Rajendra, A.

2020-01-23 bioengineering
10.1101/2020.01.22.914853 bioRxiv
Show abstract

We present results of our investigation of microbial induced calcite precipitation for manufacturing space bricks and a proposal for study of this activity in low-earth orbit (LEO). Sporosarcina pasteurii, a urease producing bacterial strain was used to consolidate lunar simulant soil (LSS) in the form of a brick with non-trivial strength properties. Potential of a naturally occurring polymer namely, guar gum, as an additive was investigated for enhancement in compressive strength of bio-consolidated samples. Experimental results of bio-brick exhibited an approximate 10-fold increase in compressive strength with guar gum supplementation in soil. We present results of microstructural analysis of the space bricks and also propose a payload design for related experiments in LEO.

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