Chinese students will live in a laboratory simulating a lunar-like environment for up to 200 days as China prepares for its long-term goal of putting humans on the moon.  The project seeks to help the country prepare lunar explorers for longer stays on the surface.

Key Facts

• Research university Beihang entered the 160-square-metre (1,720-square-foot) cabin dubbed the “Yuegong-1”, or Lunar Palace.
• The volunteers will live in the sealed lab to simulate a long-term, self-contained space mission with no input from the outside world.
• Two men and two women entered the lab for an initial stay of 60 days.
• They will then be relieved by another group of four, who will stay 200 days, before returning for an additional 105.
• Experimental crops and vegetables grown with the help of food and waste byproducts.
• Human waste will be treated with a bio-fermentation process.
• The “Lunar Palace” has two plant cultivation modules and a living cabin: 42 square metres containing four bed cubicles, a common room, a bathroom, a waste-treatment room and a room for raising animals.
• The Lunar Palace is the world’s third bioregenerative life-support base, and the first developed in China.

Source : The Hindu

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