London:
A Swedish artist is raising funds to send the first house to the Moon in 2015, which will self assemble within minutes on the lunar surface.
The miniature house developed by artist and entrepreneur Mikael Genberg will look similar to a typical Swedish cottage, painted in red and white.
The house is big enough to accommodate a grown human being and measures 3 meters by 2 meters with a roof height of 2.5 meters. A specially developed cloth will be stretched over a carbon structure. The house will build itself after getting filled with gas. This will take minutes after being launched on the Moon.
Genberg has worked on the project since 2003 with the aim of putting a red house with white corners on the surface of the Moon, according to TheMoonHouse website.
The art project lost momentum in 2010 when the financial crisis struck, but is now up to 75 per cent complete after some of Sweden's leading space engineers invested years of their time and effort to realise the venture.
The US space technology company Astrobotic, whose partners include NASA, have committed to the challenge of taking the house to the Moon. The launch and lunar landing is scheduled for October 2015.
"The Moonhouse will enable people to make history and a mark on the international scene since The Moonhouse will be the first payload funded by private individuals to land on the Moon," said John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic.
"We look forward to working with The Moonhouse towards the first 'Apollo moment' for people around the world. Only three nations in the world have previously landed on the Moon, but this is about to change," said Thornton.
"Until now, space travel has only been available to an exclusive group of people. The Moonhouse provides everybody around the world with the opportunity to come closer to space. The project also helps boost interest in entrepreneurship, technology and science," said Christer Fuglesang, Sweden's first astronaut in space.
Over $15 million is required to realise The Moonhouse and $3,901 have already been acquired so far through independent crowd-funding campaign. The donor's name will be printed on the inside of the house.
"The house will measure 3 meters by 2 meters and has a roof height of 2.5 meters, allowing enough space inside for an adult to stand upright. This presents a technical challenge since this is the first house to be 'built' on the Moon, given that the size and the design are not adapted to be tightly packaged," said Emil Vinterhav, head of The Moonhouse technical team.