The eventual construction of infrastructure on the moon and Mars will require innovative solutions in both structural design and material selection. While concrete has been used on Earth in various forms for over 2,000 years it is also an ideal construction material for engineering on other planets. Virtually all of the materials required to make concrete are present on Mars in the form of: ice (water), regolith (aggregate) and the minerals necessary to produce a cementitious binder system.

In this paper we present results for a number of magnesium-based cementitious binder systems combined with Martian regolith analogues. The physical and mechanical characteristics of the mortar samples are evaluated and the results show that the compressive strength of the magnesium mortars was sufficient for a variety of civil engineering applications on Mars and on Earth.