Hello Friends, here are the answers to today’s Amazon Quiz 1st Sep 2020. Today’s quiz question is about the institute that helped scientists at ISRO come up with a novel way to make space bricks on the lunar surface using lunar soil.
ISRO Scientists come up with a novel way to make space bricks on the lunar surface using lunar soil
Question 3: Which institute has helped scientists at ISRO come up with a novel way to make space bricks on the lunar surface using lunar soil?
Answer: IISC
Question 4: Which Indian currently serves as the Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization since March 2019?
Answer: Soumya Swaminathan
Question 5: The newly unveiled logo of Jharkhand government accommodated which flower of bright red colour?
Answer: Palash
IISC institute has helped scientists at ISRO come up with a novel way to make space bricks on the lunar surface using lunar soil.
How can ISRO scientists make space bricks on the lunar surface using lunar soil
The method describes the use of guar gum as the cement in this case, further lowering the carbon footprint of the production method. The bacteria are used to crystalize the brick in the desired shape.
One such bacterium, called’ Sporosarcina pasteurii‘ can produce calcium carbonate crystals through a metabolic pathway called the ureolytic cycle: it uses urea and calcium to form these crystals as byproducts of the pathway. A team of europian scientists also suggested a way to use human urine as a source of urea.
To utilize this technique, Kumar and colleagues at IISc teamed up with ISRO scientists Arjun Dey and I Venugopal. Scientists at IISC and ISRO mixed the bacteria with a simulant of lunar soil. Required urea and calcium sources were then added to the mixture.
Then the mixture was treated with gum obtained from locally sourced guar beans. The gum increased the strength of the material by serving as a platform for carbonate precipitation. Then the mixture was kept in incubation for a few days when they found to possess significant strength and machinability.
This is how IISC helped scientists at ISRO come up with a novel way to make space bricks on the lunar surface using lunar soil.
You can read more updates from ISRO here.