An ambitious plan to build 'lunar glass' domes on the surface of the Moon has received backing from NASA.
Cast your mind back to being a child and think about how you imagined futuristic space travel. Chances are, it is likely that lunar colonies where astronauts and spacefarers built communities either underground or inside glass domes to allow for survivable living conditions.
Well, I'm here to tell you that the future may very well be here. At last.
According to a new report from The Telegraph, the US space agency NASA is funding a project aiming to develop glass domes which can be created on the Moon.
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Spearheaded by California-based company Skyeports, the ambitious plan would utilise particles known as 'lunar regolith' found on the moon's surface to create large glass domes under which astronauts could live.
Think something like the Mars colony in Ridley Scott's 2015 film The Martian, but just on the Moon instead.
"Space has always been kind of fascinating for me, and my background was as an architect so I had the chance to start exploring how we can build structures on the Moon or Mars," Skyeports chief executive Dr Martin Bermudez said of the ambitious project.
Bermudez revealed that he came up with the idea after learning about lunar regolith - dust, rock, and mineral fragments that coat the Moon's surface - and wondered if it could be utilised to build a structure.
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"I was originally told ‘well glass is too brittle, it’s gonna break’ so I started reaching out to scientists and realised it can be adapted and become something stronger than steel," he continued.
"I contacted NASA a almost two years ago and they really loved the idea from the beginning."
The team have since revealed it's possible to use lunar regolith to create glass spheres, with tests resulting in the creation of miniature versions of the domes Bermudez hopes to see on the Moon one day.
How would the domes be built on the Moon?
Upon landing on the Moon, astronauts would gather up the regolith, which contains glass-making properties known as silicates, and feed it into a microwave furnace, which has been transported to the lunar surface.
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The furnace will then blow the glass bubbles, with Bermudez's hopes that it will one day be the home to interstellar cities.
Researchers are looking at developing a special type of glass made from polymers, allowing the bubbles the ability to 'self-heal' and withstand the harsh environment on the Moon's surface.
Meanwhile, inside the inner structure will be a habitat which allows astronauts to grow their own food in comfortable living quarters with both work and recreational spaces.
'You will never replicate Earth, but this is something that gets pretty close, and we could even put them into orbit one day,' Bermudez added.
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Skyeports' idea is currently being researched as part of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme.
The ambitious plans coincide with NASA's Artemis Programme, which aims to establish a human presence on the Moon.
Brenna Cooper