Going to space – let alone staying there – is costly and dangerous. It takes about a million dollars to get half a kilogram (1 pound) of material

Growing mushroom houses on the moon? NASA’s fungus-filled plan

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2024-09-29 23:30:03

Going to space – let alone staying there – is costly and dangerous. It takes about a million dollars to get half a kilogram (1 pound) of material to the moon, and even more to Mars. And along the way, any human spacefarers must survive radiation, extreme pressure and temperature variations as well as random micrometeorites whizzing through the void like bullets.

According to a programme gaining momentum at NASA, the solution involves growing mushroom structures on the moon – then beyond.

“You can’t take boards or bricks,” says Chris Maurer, founder of redhouse, a Cleveland-based architecture firm partnered with NASA to solve this extraterrestrial construction conundrum. “So what are you going to build with? And it’s really expensive to take already-built habitats.”

He says the concept that most researchers are looking at is called ISRU – In-Situ Resource Utilisation – “which means you build with what you have there, and what you have there is going to be water, maybe, and regolith (lunar dust)”.