China is preparing to build egg shaped igloos on the moon (Image: Getty)
Already beating the US, India and Japan in the once hotly-contested , is gearing up for its biggest step forward yet – a long-term settlement on the lunar surface.
Chinese astronauts have landed four spacecrafts on the moon since 2013 and dust collected from these visits have helped researchers to form ‘lunar soil bricks’, from which it may be possible to build something resembling a civilisation in outer space.
The model arrived upon by scientists for lunar-based buildings followed rigorous testing of dome, arch and column structures – and ultimately resembles an igloo in an upright egshell shape.
A mock-up of the would-be lunar colony has been (CCTV) and offered viewers around the world a first glimpse of what the country’s first moon base could look like.
Ding Lieyun, the chief scientist leading the development of lunar soil bricks at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, said building on the moon’s surface is no easy feat due to extreme conditions including temperature fluctuations of over 300C and low gravity.
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China is hoping to finish building its lunar base by 2035 (Image: CCTV)
“These factors make lunar construction an exceptionally challenging super-engineering endeavour,” he told CCTV.
While the nut-and-bolts of the ‘igloos’ take their cues from traditional Chinese woodworking practices – namely the mortise and tenon methods – and will be put together by robots using 3D-printed parts, Mr Lieyun has credited US space missions for helping to form the idea for the base through its .
While waiting for the lunar soil to return from China’s 2020 Chang’e 5 mission, Mr Lieyun said he could “only rely on the results published by the Apollo program”.
“Now, with the fresh studies coming out from the Chang’e 5 samples, it has allowed us to obtain more knowledge, and it hit me. ‘We don’t have to start everything from scratch’,” he told CCTV.
“That’s why we publish our papers – essentially it is to share our findings with all of humanity.”
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China is also planning to land taikonauts on the moon by 2030 and finish construction on the lunar space station by 2035 – with the ‘igloo’ plans marking the first step towards the latter goal.
The moon dust bricks arrived at China’s permanently-crewed Tiangong space station on the Tianzhou-8 spacecraft earlier this month and will now undergo exposure experiments to judge their suitability for use on the moon.
According to Sputnik International, the first brick is expected to return to Earth by the end of 2025.