Making "usual" things based on in-situ ressources

Under www.wissenschaft.de there is an article today reporting that glass can be made of carbondioxide-ice.

Italian scientists have transformed solid carbondioxide into a glassy state. They set it to a pressure of 400,000 to 500,000 atmospheres - it turned out that this caused a disorder of the atoms.

More isn't said about that - and I am doubting if this is possible by replacing the extreme pressure by something else. But it seems to be an example of a glass that is made up by something different from silicondioxide.

The article supposes that glassy carbondioxide might be inside Jupiter.

The article refers to Nature, Vol. 441, P. 857 and the scientists are a team around Mario Santoro, University Florence.

This glassy CO2 I take as an example only.



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

I don't think silicon dioxide is in short supply, most places in the solar system. On of the best reasons for going out into space, is the abundant resources.

Hydrogen has been shown to be a brown metal at similar conditions.

The wide range of temeratures and pressures across the solar system makes quite an interresting challenge/opportunity for material sciences and manufacturing.

What wonders will we find on other planets where the common forms of everyday compounds are different from anything we're used to dealing with?