There will be at least one tiny house in the moon soon! Artist Mikael Genberg’s dream of placing a traditional Swedish red cabin on the moon is set to become reality. After more than 25 years of planning, fundraising, and overcoming obstacles, the rocket carrying the miniature version of the iconic red house is scheduled for launch this December.
From Idea to Reality
The idea originated in 1999, when Västerås-based artist Mikael Genberg envisioned a tiny red cabin with white trim sitting on the moon. But of course, placing anything on the moon is not easy.
“It has taken so long because it has been difficult. And it has been affected by the outside world, such as the financial crisis,” says Genberg.
Mikael Genbger is known for his Red Swedish Houses on all sorts of places. Like this 13 meter high tree house and this underwater one that you can actually book through booking.com for 300€ a night.
A Long Journey of Collaboration
In 2003, Genberg’s plan started taking form, as he hold discussions with the Swedish Space Agency. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, and an unsuccessful crowdfunding, the plans fell through.
The project, which once envisioned placing a life-sized playhouse on the lunar surface, has scaled down over the years. Initially estimated at a cost of $57 million, the cabin has since evolved into a much smaller, decimeter-sized model due to space and budget constraints.
A Small Cabin on a Big Rocket
The rocket carrying this tiny cabin is being built in Japan by ispace, with the launch set to take place at Cape Canaveral in the U.S later this year, as part of the HAKUTO-R M2 Lunar Surface Exploration program.
“The timing is set, nothing has been changed, and everything is built. Now it will be integrated,” says Genberg, full of anticipation.
Privately Funded Passion
Despite the grand scale of the project, no state or municipal funding was involved. Instead, 60 private individuals have stepped in as partners through a limited company called Månhuset (The Moon House). These partners, along with contributions from people in the art world, the space sector, and the business community, have collectively raised between $500,000 and $1 million to make this lunar dream a reality.
You can watch the artist describe his feelings about his endeavour on the video below:
You can read the transcript translated in English below:
It’s very small on Earth, but it’s a gigantic building on the Moon. Everything alive right now on the moon fits inside that house. We have a house. It’s been placed on a lunar rover, a moon car. The car goes out and then it has a goal, and that is to find the best place for this house. Then it will be left there for thousands, millions of years. I think there is a sense of unreality that I don’t really know what to make of. There is an anticipation and a nervousness. I’m nervous because there’s so much that can go wrong. It’s very difficult to do things in space.
-Is there any risk of it being postponed again?
Yes, there is every possibility. Anything can happen. It’s not something you do every day, but it’s difficult. But we have done our stuff. We have delivered. We’ve tried everything. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that nothing else goes wrong. It is an incredible work.
Update January 15, 2025: The miniature house will be launched to space today from Cape Canaveral in the USA. After a journey of 4 to 5 months, it will finally arrive at its final destination˙ the moon.