Your Tax Dollars are Paying for the University of Arizona’s… SAND??

Since we first stepped foot on the moon in 1969, man has been trying feverishly to find a more permanent way to stay on the lunar surface.

The Artemis missions, meant to re-establish mankind's place among the stars, hopes to establish a lunar colony by the end of the 2020s, and they can't do it without the University of Arizona.

NASA Needs Help

The heavily ambitious lunar colony project is something that NASA has looked into for decades, but as time inches closer to the 2030s, the U.S. Government feels as if it's running out of time.

In order to complete the project on a reasonable timeline, NASA has begun outsourcing some of the work to intellectual circles, and the University of Arizona was a great start.

With $500,000 in funding, UA quickly assembled a team to develop new technologies that will prove instrumental in studying the lunar landscape.

Learn From Those Around You

The University of Arizona project is focused on survival habitats. The goal of the Artemis missions is to create a sustainable base, and UA students and scientists have found a unique way to thrive on the moon's surface.

By studying Termite "skyscrapers", structures made by the insects to survive in arid climates, project head Jekan Thenga began to develop a system using sandbags to protect astronauts and gear.

These structures will be assembled via a robot on the surface, providing ample protection against moonquakes and climate changes.

The first lunar city may be years away, but Arizona natives are already looking to innovate how we experience the cosmos.