Sweden Artist Builds First House on the Moon

Earth's natural satellite will soon have a house. A traditional Swedish cottage could make it to the moon and become the first house to be built on the lunar surface. The project is set to land on the moon by October 2015.

The Moonhouse seeks to encourage people to look beyond their mental boundaries and change the insight of what is actually possible. Everyone in the world builds their own personal Moonhouse – a representation of goals and challenges and how we strive to achieve them, according to the official website.

Mikael Genberg, a Swedish artist has been working for more than ten years on the Moonhouse Project and is at present collecting crowdfund for making the project a reality. The concept actually originated 15 years ago but was curbed during the global financial crisis. Thankfully, the project revived again with the pouring of funding over the past few years.

The project is even sponsored by Falu Rödfärg, the paint manufacturer, which celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2014. The cottage is a red house with white gables and the history of this unique color can be drawn back to the 1500s. The paint contains the original, natural pigmentation from the Falun mine that gives the house a distinct deep red color.

No astronauts will accompany the Moonhouse to assemble it. The project will be sent to the lunar surface by Astrobotic, the U.S. aerospace technology company aboard the SpaceX's Falcon 9 spacecraft in October next year.

The house measures 3 meters by 2 meters at the base with a roof height of 2.5 meters, which will have enough space for an adult to stand inside the house.

Once the house is installed on the surface of the moon, it will unfold by itself and take the shape of a typical Swedish cottage.

"Putting a house on the moon should be impossible, but through crowdfunding, through the Internet, through being enough individuals going together proving this that means that we can do anything," New York Daily News quoted Genberg as saying.

Until now, the Moonhouse project has received funding from many private sector partners but it is estimated that about $15 million is needed to transport the project from the Earth and cover 384,000 km distance to reach its destination.

Each $1 contribution to the project will take the Moonhouse project 25 meters closer to the moon.

"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," says 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." CNET quoted Thornton.

Check out for the Moonhouse Video here.