Is the martian meteorite a good substance for making cement?

This is an interesting question because if we are ever going to visit Mars, we will have to build enclosed places and will probably have to make cement to form them. I would imagine that if you ground up the martian meteorite you could make some kind of cement, but without large quantities of lime to serve as a binder, and quantities of disposable water, you would have a tough time making martian cement. Lime comes from calcium deposits produced by single celled creatures called diatoms. If there are martian diatom deposits, I hardly think they will be used to make cement upon discovery!!


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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