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BOB HIRSHON (host):
A far-out school project. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
This year, robotics students at Mälardalen University in Sweden have an unusual class project: design a robot that could build a house on the Moon. And to design the house itself, their professor, Lars Asplund, teamed up with Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, who’s already built a cabin in a tree, and another one underwater.
LARS ASPLUND (Mälardalen University):
And now he has the idea of putting a small house on the Moon, a typical Swedish house, red house with white corners.
HIRSHON:
With funding still an open question, Asplund notes that it would be cheaper to ship the building materials to the moon in a small box and have the robot assemble them on-site, than to launch a finished house into space. While no one would actually live in the house, it would stand beside other countries’ flags as a symbol of achievement. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.