Funds are being raised by a Swedish artist to send the first house to the Moon in 2015, which will eventually self-assemble within minutes on the lunar surface, Press Trust of India reported.
Appearing as a typical Swedish cottage, painted in red and white, the miniature house is developed by artist and entrepreneur Mikael Genberg.
The house, measuring 3 meters by 2 meters with a roof height of 2.5 meters, will be able to accommodate a grown human being.
According to PTI, a specially developed cloth will be stretched over a carbon structure. After filling up with gas, the house will take minutes to build on the Moon.
Since 2003, a red house with white corners on the surface of the Moon has been planned as a project for Genberg, according to TheMoonHouse website.
Although the art project lost momentum in 2010 when the financial crisis struck, it is now up to 75 percent complete after some of Sweden's leading space engineers invested years of their time and effort to realize the venture.
The challenge of taking the house to the Moon has been taken up by the U.S. space technology company Astrobotic, whose partners include NASA.
The launch and lunar landing is scheduled for October 2015, according to PTI.
"The Moonhouse will enable people to make history and a mark on the international scene since The Moonhouse will be the first payload funded by private individuals to land on the Moon," said John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic.
"We look forward to working with The Moonhouse towards the first 'Apollo moment' for people around the world. Only three nations in the world have previously landed on the Moon, but this is about to change," said Thornton.
"Until now, space travel has only been available to an exclusive group of people. The Moonhouse provides everybody around the world with the opportunity to come closer to space. The project also helps boost interest in entrepreneurship, technology and science," said Christer Fuglesang, Sweden's first astronaut in space.
Out of the $15 million required to realize the Moonhouse, about $3,901 has been acquired so far through independent crowd-funding campaign.
The donor's name will be printed on the inside of the house.
"The house will measure 3 meters by 2 meters and has a roof height of 2.5 meters, allowing enough space inside for an adult to stand upright. This presents a technical challenge since this is the first house to be 'built' on the Moon, given that the size and the design are not adapted to be tightly packaged," said Emil Vinterhav, head of The Moonhouse technical team.
