ISRO makes plans for a lunar igloo colony | Fusion - WeRIndia

For a very long time, people have imagined going to the moon, walking on it, and even living on it.

When Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969, it may have been a giant leap for mankind, but astronauts are not stopping there.

Space researchers are working on ways to build outposts on the moon, and India is determined to be a part of it.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is developing an idea to build igloo-like habitats on the moon’s surface, which can be used for potential future missions on the moon.

These lunar habitats can be used as laboratories with lower gravity, since the gravity of the moon is about 1/6 of the gravity of Earth.

The moon is, by far, the closest planetary object to Earth, which makes it the first step in further space exploration.

The ISRO is planning to send robots and 3D printers to these lunar outposts. These machines will be able to build the habitats using soil from the moon and other materials.

M. Annadurai, the director of the ISRO Satellite Center (ISAC), has said that they want to use the moon as an outpost similar to how people use Antarctica as an outpost today.

Many other space researchers in other countries are working on ways to build habitats on the moon, and the ISRO wants to contribute to this research.

Already, their project has seen progress. They printed out a model of the habitat using a 3D printer, and they got it to work in their lunar terrain test facility.

The ISRO has mastered the process of simulating lunar soil, with their lunar simulant having 99.6% of the same properties as real soil from the moon.

Therefore, the test of this model accurately confirms that this igloo idea can work. The ISRO is continuing to work on this project steadily, and they plan to put it forth in the future.

 

Image Reference: Thebetterindia, Indiatoday