Chinese students from Beihang University spent 200 days in a closed laboratory to simulate a "lunar environment".
The Americans landed on the moon. The Chinese now want to live there for a long time . This is the goal of the experience of four students from Beijing University of Beihang, specialized in astronautics research. For 200 consecutive days, the four volunteers lived in complete autarky in a sealed laboratory, nicknamed "Moon Palace" to simulate a long mission in autonomy on the moon.
200 days in 42m²
This "Lunar Palace" has two modules of growing plants and a living space. It measures 42 square meters and contains four sleeping areas, a common room, a bathroom, a room dedicated to the treatment of waste and another for the breeding of animals.
A space station in 2022
One of the goals was to test the body's ability to live in a confined space . The experiment " put the body and mind of the volunteers to the test, but they overcame the test, " says Liu Hong, the developer of the module, quoted by the state-run China News. This full-scale test is another step towards the stated ambition of the Chinese authorities to carry out extended missions on the Moon. By 2022, Beijing already plans to put into orbit its own inhabited space station.