John Paul M. Joaquin Science 07.11.2022 23:Jul PM EDT

Japanese Researchers Develop Gravity-Defying Space Habitats for Moon, Mars

While NASA focuses on getting to the moon and Mars, Japan focuses on space real estate.

Researchers at Japan's Kyoto University are currently developing gravity-defying habitats for astronauts and other people who wish to live in space to use on the moon and Mars, per the Japanese publication Asahi.

The researchers believe that the technology they are developing will be available sometime in the 22nd century.

Japanese Space Habitat Development Details

Researchers at Kyoto University have recently partnered with Jaima Corp. to develop gravity-defying habitats required for use on the moon and Mars.

Yosuke Yamashiki, director of the SIC Human Spaceology Center of Kyoto University, mentioned that a press conference that his team's plan represents important technologies crucial to ensuring human beings can move to space in the future.

"There is no plan like this in other countries' space development plans," Yamashiki said.

He also explained that gravity plays a critical role in the birth and growth of babies and children in space - should there be no gravity, mammals, humans included, may not be born successfully.

Furthermore, humans born in low gravity could also be an equally challenging situation, as a child would be unable to stand on their own on the earth if they were born in a place with no gravity.

As such, Yamashiki and his team are developing space habits that use centrifugal force to generate gravity similar to that of Earth, simulating the same gravity needed for children to grow on the moon and Mars without worries.

These habitats, dubbed "Glass," are shown in a video to be filled with water and green pastures similar to that of Earth, making it comfortable and ideal for any human being to live in, per Interesting Engineering.

The habitats will also help reduce the impact of low gravity on the health of people living on the moon or Mars, researchers say.

If a Glass is installed on the moon, it will be called a Lunar Glass. On the other hand, if the same is done on Mars, the Glass with then be called Mars Glass.

Yamashiki stated that construction of these Glasses on a large scale is impossible using current technology. As such, he expects that humanity will be able to do so by the 22nd century.

However, all is not lost. Yamashiki mentioned that they're aiming to build a simplified version to be used on the moon come 2050. Although it isn't known what "simplified" means in Glass' context.

A Celestial Railway System?

Yamshiki is also considering creating a transportation system called the "Hexagon Space Track System" to travel between Earth, the moon, and Mars.

The idea involves a space train that is as large as a Shinkansen, a Japanese bullet train, that generates artificial gravity while operating like the trains running on Earth.

The space train will then stop at "stations" built on satellites orbiting the Earth, moon, and Mars, and each of its cars is separated at the stations and transported in hexagon capsules when traveling from Earth and Mars to avoid cosmic ray radiation.