ISRO to build lunar habitats for astronauts on moon
What's the story
With the potential to become India's biggest science program, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has started working on a project that aims at building igloos or "lunar habitats" on the moon.
According to the scientists, these structures will be built through robots and 3D printers, by using lunar soil and other such material.
Here is more on the project.
Purpose
Moon to be used as an outpost in the future
M Annadurai, director of ISRO's Satellite Centre, said, "We're planning to use the moon as an outpost, like missions in Antarctica."
"In the long run, the international space station is likely to be scrapped. Many countries, including the US, are considering building more permanent structures on the moon and working out of there. When that happens, we want India to have contributed," he added.
Process
ISRO has developed a working model of the moon igloos
A working model of the project, created using a 3D printer, is already sitting in the Indian space agency's lunar terrain test facility.
Even though there is no mission plan yet, scientists want to keep the technology ready for when astronauts will spend more than just a few hours at the moon.
They have come up with five designs of the said lunar habitats.
Information
ISRO has replicated lunar soil by 99%
Annadurai claims that ISRO has created about 60 tons of lunar simulant that matches the properties of lunar soil samples from the Apollo missions by 99.6%. "To keep astronauts safe, we need smart materials, which is what we are focusing on building," he said.