Concrete — A Practical Construction Material for Mars

Abstract

Concrete has long been advocated as a construction material for a permanent lunar base. The advantage of lunar concrete is that all of the components can be derived from local materials, thus saving the huge costs of launching large structures from Earth. Lunar cement manufacturing, however, will require several complex, high-energy steps, due to the nature of lunar surface materials. Concrete may be a considerably more practical construction alternative for a Mars base. The martian environment is no more challenging to permanent structures than that of the Moon. Moreover, key materials required for the manufacture of concrete are much more readily available on Mars than on the lunar surface.