Japan to start research on places on moon, Mars for humans

22 Aug, 2022
Image: Takuya Ono/Kajima Co. Ltd

Researchers at Kyoto University and contractor Kajima Corp. presented plans to build living facilities required for human habitation on the moon and Mars and a transportation system reminiscent of a galaxy express.

"Our plan represents important technologies crucial to ensuring human beings will be able to move to space in the future,” said Yosuke Yamashiki, director of the SIC Human Spaceology Center of Kyoto University.

At the core of the plan is constructing “artificial gravity living facilities.” The facilities will be able to generate the same level of gravity as on Earth by using centrifugal force created by rotational motions.

One of these facilities, called Lunar Glass, will be built on the moon under the plan. Another called Mars Glass will be constructed on Mars. Gravity on the moon and Mars are one-sixth and one-third of that on Earth, respectively.

The facilities will help reduce the impact on the health of people living on the moon or Mars that could be caused by low gravity, according to the researchers.

The plan also includes building a transportation system called the “Hexagon Space Track System,” reminiscent of a galaxy express, to travel between Earth, the moon and Mars.

The system’s space train, as large as a Shinkansen, will also generate artificial gravity and travel like trains running on Earth, according to the researchers.It will stop at “stations,” which will be built on satellites orbiting the Earth, the moon or Mars.

The plan will only become possible in the 22nd century, at the earliest. However, although they expect constructing the massive facilities will take them around 100 years, thescientists aim to build a simplified version of them on the moon by 2050.

Source: The Asahi Shimbun

Image: Takuya Ono/Kajima Co. Ltd


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