Moss_2006_2abstr

Steelmaking on Mars

Shaun Moss

shaunmoss@yahoo.com.au

Abstract

Steel is one of the most widely used materials on Earth, and is likely to be even more valuable on Mars, which lacks wood. Although locally-produced bricks, blocks and cement might initially predominate in construction, their low tensile strength limits what can be manufactured with these materials in the absence of reinforcing steel.

Steel will enable fabrication of buildings, parts for vehicles and machinery, beams, pipe, fasteners, tools, sheet metal, cooking implements, appliances, cutlery, and countless other things. The rate at which a martian society can expand will be strongly linked to the rate at which it can produce its own steel. Beyond agriculture, the manufacture of materials, especially steel, will be an important key to self-sufficiency on Mars.

Apart from iron ore, the major ingredients normally required for steelmaking are coking coal, limestone, and oxygen-rich air, all of which are in short supply on Mars. However, the basic elements of steel – namely, iron and carbon – are available, which suggests that steel can be manufactured on Mars from local ingredients using new methods.

In this paper, various different methods for manufacturing steel on Mars are investigated and compared. Although Mars has abundant quantities of alloying metals with which to produce different types of steel, the paper focuses on plain carbon steel, which is the most common type in use on Earth and will be the easiest to manufacture on Mars.