Bacterial Growth Induced Biocementation Technology, ‘Space-Brick’ - A Proposal for Experiment at Microgravity and Planetary Environments
Year: 2020
Type: preprint
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.
Authors: Aloke Kumar, Rashmi Dikshit, Nitin Gupta, Animesh Jain, Arjun Dey, Anuj Nandi, I. Venugopal, Koushik Viswanathan, N. Sridhara, A. Rajendra
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3002199765