Week in Tech: Building on Mars with Chitin

Chitin—a polymer found in fungi and in arthropod exoskeletons, like shrimp shells—is one of the most abundant organic materials on Earth, but researchers want to tap into its potential on Mars. With organizations, including NASA, planning a crewed mission to the Red Planet as early as 2030, scientists from the Singapore University of Technology and Design began investigating how “bioinspired chitinous manufacturing” could be easily deployed by explorers inhabiting the limited Mars ecosystem. As explained in their recent Plos One publication “Martian Biolith: A Bioinspired Regolith Composite for Closed-Loop Extraterrestrial Manufacturing,” the researchers developed a new, chitinous material by combining chitosan, a sugar derived from exoskeletons, with a mineral mimicking Martian soil. The resulting chitinous mix could be used by astronauts to manufacture tools and rigid shelters on Mars. “We approach the problem of staying on Mars from a bioinspired perspective by replicating chitinous bioinspired manufacturing developed for the production of sustainable manufacturing on Earth,” the authors wrote. “The resulting Martian biolith and its associated chemistry involve Martian regolith simulant, ubiquitous biomolecules, and water-based solvents that are easily integrated into any ecological cycle(s) and avoids the need for complex polymer synthesis, shipping of specialized equipment, or dedicated feedstock..” [Plos One]

Building off a previous study demonstrating the strength and energy efficiency of bricks made from 1% recycled cigarette butt content, researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a step-by-step plan for merging brick making with waste management, cutting brick production costs and mitigating harmful toxins that cigarette butts leech into the environment. Led by professor Abbas Mohajerani, the researchers published their plan in Nature, explaining how manufacturers can collect and recycle cigarette butts on an industrial scale and seamlessly incorporate them into brick-making materials while maintaining rigorous health and safety standards. Firing the cigarette-but bricks also takes 10% less energy, creating financial savings for manufacturers and increasing sustainability. “Firing butts into bricks is a reliable and practical way to deal with this terrible environmental problem, while at the same time cutting brick-making production costs,” said Mohajerani in a RMIT press release. “Our ultimate goal is a world free of cigarette butt pollution: our industry implementation plan outlines the practical steps needed to bring this vision to reality.” [RMIT]

A recent study in Nature details the unprecedented rapid rate that the Greenland Ice Sheet is losing ice at a rate that will exceed any previously seen Holocene rates. That is, Greenland’s ice is melting more quickly that it has in the past 12,000 years. Generating a simulation from a high-resolution ice sheet model and a “climate histories constrained by ice-core data,” researchers from several leading educational and governmental institutions, including University of Buffalo and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tracked the mass loss in the coming century, finding that it “exceed[s] the maximum rates over the past 12,000 years,” the study states. “[A]s a whole, our results indicate, with high confidence, that the rate of mass loss from the GIS will exceed Holocene rates this century.” [Nature]

With many plastics too expensive to recycle, an international team of researchers has developed a mutant enzyme that breaks down PET plastic, which is found in the 1 million disposable water bottles sold every minute worldwide. The researchers modified a version of the PETase enzyme, improving its ability to “eat” PET, which naturally degrades the plastic in the environment. “It’s incredible because [the research] tells us that the enzyme is not yet optimized,” lead author John McGeehan said in a release from the University of Portsmouth. “It gives us scope to use all the technology used in other enzyme development and make a super-fast enzyme.” [University of Portsmouth]

The New York–based 3D printing manufacturer MakerBot has released its 2020 3D printing trends report, aiming “to identify the 3D printing behaviors and preferences of professionals across different sectors.” The report found an overall increase in the number of people using 3D printing, as the technology has become more accessible for smaller manufacturers and businesses. Cost and a required technical expertise proved the top barriers to individuals using the technology; however, 74% of respondents said that they would invest in 3D printing technology in 2021, even in the current economic crisis. 90% of the respondents were male, with only 6% female and 4% other , with 68% of users most frequently employing 3D printing technology to produce low- to mid-volume parts. [MakerBot]

Czech architect Martin Rajniš is on his fourth life, and he is building fairy tale-like, sustainable structures capturing the imaginations of people around the world. Read more about the paradoxical 76-year-old in Timothy A. Schuler’s profile for ARCHITECT where he delves into Rajniš’s work, his wooden structures, and his architectural philosophy. [ARCHITECT]

AIA Colorado’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee is unveiling a digital installation in downtown Denver that highlights the work of underrepresented female architects in the state. From Tuesday toSunday and from sunset to 10 p.m. throughout the month of October, a digital projection of “Women in Architecture” will project “the names and faces of female and nonbinary architects and the buildings they’ve helped design,” according to an AIA Colorado press release. “The installation on the Daniels & Fisher Clock tower uses 10 projectors and 210,000 lumens. Dubbed ‘the people’s projector,’ the project is funded without any tax dollars or grants, and offers access to the arts in a unique, socially distant setting, all free of charge.” [AIA Colorado]

In his latest column, ARCHITECT contributor Blaine Brownell, FAIA, examines what the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us about air pollution and the built environment’s essential role in public health. “If we have learned a consequential lesson from COVID-19, it is that architecture must make clean air a fundamental priority,” he writes. “If we have learned a consequential lesson from COVID-19, it is that architecture must make clean air a fundamental priority.” [ARCHITECT]

After a four-alarm fire reduced Philadelphia’s historic 2122 Locust St. to a charred husk, local firm Ian Smith Design Group led a thoughtful reconstruction and restoration of the Georgian Revival building. “I’ve grown to find that I like being the solver of problems,” says founding principal Ian Smith. “And I love these details because I was trying to show where the existing ended, how it was built, and how we extended it up in order to solve those things….” [ARCHITECT]