The POT it aims to settle on the Moon by the end of this decade. The Artemis mission is already underway and the first manned voyage of the North American space agency is scheduled for some time in 2024.
For this first trip there are no problems. It will be a reconnaissance that will reach the orbit of the Moon without stepping on the surface and then the astronauts will return home.
The drawbacks will come after these first reconnaissance missions; once the astronauts are intended to settle on Lunar soil.
Due to the conditions inside the natural satellite, science will have to develop bases to protect the traveling astronauts and the scientific experiments they are going to develop.
Therefore, NASA and other space agencies are looking for mechanisms to make bases on the Moon that are as economical as possible, since moving construction material into space is extremely expensive.
How expensive? According to a review by meteored for each half kilo about 10,000 dollars.
Why could urine be the key?
The same portal cites a scientific experiment that finds surprising components for construction by combining urea with lunar polymers.
Urea is the component that is most present in urine after water. The study says that it is capable of breaking hydrogen bonds and thus reduces the viscosity in fluid mixtures.
The scientists experimented by combining urea with lunar polymers and the result was a kind of concrete 10 times stronger than terrestrial.
“The hope is that astronaut urine can be used essentially as is on a future lunar base, with minor adjustments to the water content. This is very practical and avoids the need to further complicate sophisticated water recycling systems in space,” said Marlies Arnhof, one of the co-authors of this study.
