Mars astronauts could live in houses made of yeast and jello, say scientists

If humans ever make it to Mars - and that’s still a big IF - they will need to build shelters there.

And they could build those shelters out of yeast and gelatin, if a method described by Hong Kong-based researchers makes it out of the lab.

A paper published on Thursday by a group of researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University describes a method for building structures on Mars that doesn’t rely on energy-intensive heating to turn regolith into building blocks.

The team instead turned to bioengineered yeast and gelatin mixed with simulated Mars dirt to 3D print structures.

"My inspiration came from freeze-dried fruits that become harder,” senior author Jishen Qiu, an associate professor at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told Cell Press, the publisher of the paper.

Qiu’s idea is a relatively simple one once you break it down: Take one part yeast bioengineered to produce adhesive proteins that bind the components.

Combine with artificial gelatin hydrosol to serve as a growth medium for the yeast.

Add plain old Martian dirt, and extrude the material through a 3D-printing nozzle.

If everything works as intended, the recipe should create a foamy substance that, when exposed to the dry, cold Martian atmosphere, essentially freeze-dries.

As the ice sublimates into vapor, you should be left with a light, porous, but incredibly strong material.

According to the researchers, that’s exactly what they got.

“The hardened material achieved mean compressive and flexural strengths of approximately 12 and 6 MPa, respectively,” the team said.

For reference, that’s roughly the same strength as low-grade terrestrial concrete.

As an added perk, the team noted, the energy demand is one to two orders of magnitude lower than that of heat-processing Martian (or lunar, for that matter) dirt into building material.