Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would be close to 3D printing a house on the moon. NASA has been researching a technology known as contour crafting, which could one day be used to 3D print moon bases, but such a project is still likely at least a decade away.

One Swedish artist, however, plans on beating NASA to the punch. Mikael Genberg, who in 2000 constructed a single underwater hotel room in a Swedish lake, located near Stockholm, has been planning this project for over a decade. His plan is to construct a structure on the moon which would technically be big enough to house one individual. The house will resemble that of a contemporary Swedish cottage, and after construction, via 3D printing technology, will be painted red and white. The total area of the home will be 65 square feet. The package that Genberg will send will be relatively small. It is designed so that it can be inflated using pressurized gas. The exact methods used and 3D printing technology which will be utilized for the full construction of the house, has yet to be released by Gensberg, but he assures the public his plan is well thought out. He had originally planned on starting construction years ago, however, ran into financial issues.

Just recently he had learned that the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) had planned on sending a satellite to orbit the moon next year. Genberg’s interest was thus renewed. He placed a phone call to the PR manager of the SSC, and said, “I heard you are going to the moon and I would really like to put a red house on the moon, and would really like to join you.” After a long pause the SSC actually accepted his request. With the help of the internet community, via crowdfunding, Genberg hopes to raise a total of $15,360,000 to fund this extraordinary art project, which would be the first art project ever created on the moon, not to mention the first privately funded mission to the moon.

Genberg explained in his crowdfunding pitch that this, “small red house can be the symbol of prosperity and the symbol of thinking bigger thoughts, breaking new mental barriers, and actually making this planet a lot better.”

It’s not going to be easy for him to raise the funds required, however, through an increase in media attention, and a general zest by the public for participating in a new frontier of art, he will hopefully be able to drive enough individuals to help him reach his goal, and ‘For the first time in history, people and not states will fund a mission to the Moon’.

Genberg has set the crowdfunding campaign up in an interesting way. He figures that there will be a total of 384,000 kilometers, or 384 million meters traveled from earth to the moon for this project. He has therefore broke down the available pledge amounts, and subsequent reward levels by ‘meters donated.’ Every $1 will help fund approximately 25 meters of the trip. Rewards for pledges range from a simple recognition, to a name engraved on the house, a digital message sent to the moon, and access to an exclusive launch party. The funding for this project will last until November of this year, or until the full amount has been raised. $5 million will be used to construct the house on the moon, while the remainder of the funds will be spent on space travel. If for some reason Genberg can not raise the required funding, he will make sure that almost all the funds are returned to those who pledged, minus any small administration fees. If all goes well the mission will launch in Ocotber of 2015, 11 months after the funding has been completed.

More details on the project and how you can contribute can be found at the TheMoonHouse.com. Have you donated to this project? Do you plan to? We would love to hear from you at the 3D Printed Moonhouse thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the crowdfunding pitch video created by Genberg below:

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