Red house on the Moon: An artist's dream takes flight
A rocket was launched from Florida carrying a model of a red Swedish house, which will soon reach the Moon. This unusual mission is the realization of an idea by artist Mikael Genberg. What is known about it?
On Wednesday morning, January 15th, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Florida carrying a miniature red Swedish house aboard one of the rovers. This object, the artistic vision of Mikael Genberg, is part of a larger exploratory mission to the Moon.
Red house on the Moon
The concept of sending a characteristic Swedish house to the Moon was conceived by Genberg back in 1999. Initially, a child-sized house was intended to be sent, but the project was reduced to a miniature due to high costs. The house, named Moonhouse, was made from aluminum. It was painted with a special space-certified paint. It measures about 13 centimetres in length, 8 centimetres in width, and 10 centimetres in height.
The house, soon to land on the Moon, symbolizes, as Genberg stated, "the eternal struggle of life to survive and develop," and encourages reflection on human existence. The project was financed through the support of one hundred private investors from sectors such as art and the space industry, costing approximately 76 million Canadian dollars.
The realization of the project encountered many difficulties, not only financial. A major challenge was creating a model of the house capable of withstanding the shocks and vibrations of the rocket launch. The launch became a reason for celebration in Västerås, where the artist is from.
The Moon is not the first "uncommon" place where the Moonhouse has reached. It has been placed in trees, underwater, taken to the Great Wall of China, and even the International Space Station as a companion to the first Swedish astronaut, Christer Fuglesang.
