Mini Swedish house set to make lunar landing on SpaceX mission
A rocket was launched from Florida carrying a model of a red Swedish house, which is destined to reach the Moon soon. This unique mission is the brainchild of artist Mikael Genberg. What do we know about it?
On Wednesday morning, January 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Florida with a miniature red Swedish house aboard one of the rovers. This object, an artistic creation by Mikael Genberg, is part of a larger exploratory mission to the Moon.
Red house on the Moon
The idea of sending a distinctively Swedish house to the Moon was conceived by Genberg back in 1999. Initially, the plan was to send a child-sized house, but due to high costs, the project was scaled down to a miniature version. The house, named Moonhouse, is made of aluminum and painted with a special space-certified paint. It measures 5 inches in length, 3 inches in width, and 4 inches in height.
The house, soon to land on the Moon, symbolizes, as Genberg put it, "the eternal struggle of life to survive and develop" and encourages reflection on human existence. The project was funded by support from one hundred private investors from various fields, such as art and the space industry, and it cost 576 million kronor (approximately 50 million euros).
The project faced numerous challenges beyond financial ones. A significant hurdle was designing a house model that could withstand the shocks and vibrations of a rocket launch. The launch was a reason for celebration in Västerås, where the artist is from.
The Moon is not the first "uncommon" place the Moonhouse has reached. It has previously been placed on trees, underwater, taken to the Great Wall of China, and even traveled to the International Space Station as a companion to the first Swedish astronaut, Christer Fuglesang.
