A student research project from the University of Bremen was selected for the exhibition “Posters in the Bundestag: Academic Freedom The Freedom to Research” at the Paul Löbe House of the German Bundestag. The project, developed by Söhnke Siemers, Luca Wilkening, and Lasse Siebels as part of the BSc-WINGPT teaching project “Production of Regolith-Polymer Composites Using the Freeze-Casting Process,” was one of 45 student research projects selected from across Germany.
The students presented their research during the exhibition to, among others, Bundestag Vice President Andrea Lindholz, Member of the Bundestag Adrian Grasse, and journalist and host Jan-Martin Wiarda. The event provided an opportunity to present student research to representatives from politics, science, and the wider public.
The project is closely connected to the Cluster of Excellence “The Martian Mindset,” which investigates how the challenges of producing materials and components under the resource limitations and environmental conditions of Mars can lead to new approaches to sustainable production on Earth and in space. Within this context, the students are investigating the production of components from Martian regolith, the layer of loose rock, dust, and mineral material covering the Martian surface.
The project is supervised by Ritaksha Colvalcar, a doctoral researcher in the Cluster of Excellence, together with Kurosch Rezwan, who leads the cluster project “Freeze Casting/Bioregolith.” Their research focuses on the use of freeze-casting to process regolith-based materials into components with defined structures.
Freeze-casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid mixture containing solid particles is frozen. As the liquid freezes, ice crystals form and arrange the particles around them. The frozen liquid is subsequently removed through sublimation, meaning that the ice changes directly from a solid into a gas. This leaves behind a porous structure whose properties can be controlled through the freezing process. The approach is being investigated as a possible way of producing lightweight and functional components from locally available resources.
Using Martian regolith as a raw material is part of the broader concept of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). ISRU refers to the use of resources available at the destination of a space mission instead of transporting all required materials from Earth. For future missions to Mars, this could include using local materials for the production of tools, construction materials, or other components.
In addition to presenting their poster, the students used the exhibition as an opportunity for scientific exchange. They discussed their research with a professor from Berlin who has worked with regolith in the context of lunar research and with members of student space organisations. Further discussions focused on regolith processing, in-situ resource utilization, and additive manufacturing for future space missions.
The participation of the Bremen student project in the Bundestag exhibition illustrates how research within the Cluster of Excellence connects fundamental questions about materials and manufacturing with the practical challenges of future space exploration. It also demonstrates the contribution of student research to the interdisciplinary work of “The Martian Mindset.”
