Astronauts Try Mixing Concrete in Space

[Fraser]

What sounds like a slap-stick comedy shtick is actually solid science. With so much of humanity’s space-faring future involving habitats, other structures, and a permanent presence on the Moon and Mars, mixing concrete in space is serious business. NASA has a program of study called MICS, (Microgravity Investigation of Cement Solidification) which is examining how …
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[George]

[Nit -- They actual made concrete from their ready-mix; not that they mixed concrete.] The brake tests that are sure to come will be interesting.

[profloater]

Concrete is fascinating, at first guess gravity has little influence but electric fields do, and then fibres of course. It must be in mind for any long term space work, including new generation near space structures. There is a branch of concrete making where the dry powders are moulded and then steamed, it involves much less mass of water. In space you could just open a valve to vacuum to get the effect.

[bknight]

Other than a vacuum, how does this experiment really test how the mixing/hardening will be affected on a gravitational body?

[profloater]

Other than a vacuum, how does this experiment really test how the mixing/hardening will be affected on a gravitational body?

I guess you have to try. It would be foolish to assume, but I would guess the cement part would grow crystals just like on Earth, dominated by the shapes of the sand grains and additives which affect surface tension.