Martian habitats are ideally constructed using only locally available soils; extant attempts to process structural materials on Mars, however, generally require additives or calcination. In this work we demonstrate that Martian soil simulant Mars-1a can be directly compressed at ambient into a strong solid without additives, highlighting a possible aspect of complete Martian in-situ resource utilization. Flexural strength of the compact is not only determined by the compaction pressure but also significantly influenced by the lateral boundary condition of processing loading. The compression loading can be applied either quasi-statically or through impact. Nanoparticulate iron oxide (npOx), commonly detected in Martian regolith, is identified as the bonding agent. Gas permeability of compacted samples was measured to be on the order of 10−16 m2, close to that of solid rocks. The compaction procedure is adaptive to additive manufacturing.
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机译：理想情况下，火星栖息地仅使用当地可用的土壤建造；然而，现有的在火星上加工结构材料的尝试通常需要添加剂或煅烧。在这项工作中，我们证明了火星土壤模拟物Mars-1a可以在室温下直接压缩成没有添加剂的坚固固体，突显了火星人完整原位资源利用的可能方面。压坯的抗弯强度不仅取决于压实压力，而且还受到加工载荷的横向边界条件的显着影响。压缩载荷可以准静态或通过冲击施加。通常在火星长石中检测到的纳米颗粒氧化铁（npOx）被确定为粘合剂。压实样品的气体渗透率经测量约为10 −16 m 2 ，接近于固体岩石。压实程序适用于增材制造。
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