The Moonhouse prepares for historic lunar landing: A red Swedish cottage to become the first house on the Moon

A quiet but powerful symbol of imagination, endurance, and artistic vision is on the brink of making lunar history. On June 5, 2025, at precisely 21:24 CET, a miniature red Swedish cottage will attempt to become the first-ever house to land on the Moon. Dubbed The Moonhouse, this installation has been over 26 years in the making — conceived not as a scientific or nationalistic statement, but as a personal and global ode to human creativity, emotional connection, and the longing for home.

The mission is being executed in collaboration with Tokyo-based lunar transport company ispace, utilizing its RESILIENCE lander and TENACIOUS rover. The Moonhouse, which traveled through space for more than four months, is now entering its final and most critical phase: a soft landing in Mare Frigoris — Latin for “The Sea of Cold” — a large lunar plain located in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.

How Did The Moonhouse Begin?

The origins of this lunar mission are rooted in the vision of Swedish contemporary artist Mikael Genberg, who first proposed the idea in 1999. Genberg envisioned placing a modest, red wooden house — the traditional Swedish “stuga” — on the Moon. His aim was not to echo the Cold War-era symbolism of flags or territorial conquest, but to humanize outer space, creating a poetic reminder of Earth and home.

Genberg described the house as a “beacon of hope,” not just for Sweden but for humanity. It is meant to face Earth, evoking Carl Sagan’s notion of the “pale blue dot” — Earth as seen from the vast emptiness of space. Over the decades, the project evolved from a conceptual art piece into a technically engineered lunar payload, incorporating both the aesthetics of art and the precision of aerospace engineering.

What Makes This Lunar Mission Unique?

While the Moon has been visited by robotic spacecraft, rovers, and astronauts, no human construction meant to symbolize civilian life — let alone an artwork — has ever been placed on its surface. The Moonhouse is therefore a unique intersection of culture, engineering, and space exploration.

The house is affixed to the lunar rover TENACIOUS, developed by ispace as part of its second Moon mission. The primary objective is to deploy the rover after RESILIENCE lands safely, scout the lunar terrain for an ideal location, and gently lower the Moonhouse into place. The act of detachment — a mere eight-centimeter drop onto the surface — may sound simple, but it is considered one of the mission’s most delicate operations.

According to Emil Vinterhav, the project’s technical lead, the Moonhouse’s final descent relies solely on gravity. Despite the short fall, the maneuver must be flawless. Any instability or surface anomaly could compromise the placement, a challenge amplified by the 400,000-kilometre remote control distance.

Rover pilot Antoine Bocquier, a senior space systems engineer at ispace, highlighted the importance of terrain selection. The chosen site must be symbolically resonant, safe for deployment, and in clear view of the Earth. He explained that controlling a rover on another celestial body, where every command faces several seconds of signal delay, requires not just skill but intuition and foresight.

Why Mare Frigoris Was Chosen as the Landing Site

Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold, is a large, basaltic plain located just north of the Moon’s equator. The area provides a relatively stable topography, minimizing risks during landing and deployment. Its visibility from Earth also ensures that the Moonhouse will quite literally face home — fulfilling Genberg’s symbolic goal of keeping a human gaze pointed back at our own planet.

The location’s calm terrain and strategic visibility make it ideal for both engineering logistics and artistic intent. Moreover, the lunar north has been relatively underexplored compared to regions like Mare Tranquillitatis or the South Pole, offering a fresh chapter in lunar presence.

How Has the Project Been Funded and Supported?

The Moonhouse is the result of long-term collaboration between artists, engineers, space companies, and global supporters. While initially launched as a personal vision, the project grew to attract both public and private funding over two decades.

The realization of the mission in 2025 was made possible in part through commercial partnerships, including ispace, which previously attempted its first lunar landing in 2023 but did not succeed. That failure, however, served as a technical and motivational learning curve for the present mission.

The current iteration of RESILIENCE and TENACIOUS represents a maturing of lunar commercial transport, aligning with the global space economy’s shift from purely governmental projects to public-private partnerships and artist-driven narratives. The inclusion of a symbolic object like the Moonhouse signals how space exploration is broadening in scope beyond STEM toward emotional, cultural, and philosophical dimensions.

What Happens After The Moonhouse Lands?

The final test of the mission comes only after touchdown. Once RESILIENCE completes its descent, the TENACIOUS rover will be deployed to explore and scan the surrounding terrain. Bocquier will then pilot the rover to the designated location, where the Moonhouse will make its gentle descent to the Moon’s surface.

Once the house is in place, it will become a permanent fixture — not just on the lunar surface, but also in the evolving narrative of space exploration. The hope is to capture images of the installation facing Earth, thereby allowing humanity to view its smallest “home” in the most distant of places.

Unlike earlier space missions designed for short-term utility or scientific gain, the Moonhouse is conceived as a perpetual installation. It will not return. It is not designed to be inhabited or used as infrastructure. Its presence is a metaphor — fixed, poetic, and intended to endure as long as lunar conditions allow.

What Does This Mean for the Future of Art and Space?

The Moonhouse’s mission comes at a time when the intersection between space and culture is deepening. As the commercial space sector expands, new opportunities are emerging for artists, designers, and thinkers to contribute to extraterrestrial environments.

From Elon Musk’s plans to send civilians to Mars to NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon, public fascination with space is evolving from spectacle to sustainability. In this context, The Moonhouse asserts a quieter, more reflective vision — one that prioritizes human emotion over technological dominance.

By placing an uninhabited red house on the Moon, Genberg and his collaborators make a statement about imagination as a driver of exploration. It is a reminder that even in the most advanced and sterile of technologies, there is space for beauty, memory, and hope.

Why The Moonhouse Matters in 2025

As the world enters an era of renewed interest in lunar exploration, the Moonhouse offers a radical departure from traditional narratives. It does not carry a scientific instrument. It has no geopolitical claim. It bears no commercial advertising. Yet, its impact could be profound.

At a time when Earth itself is beset by political divisions, climate crises, and existential uncertainty, The Moonhouse stands as a symbol of something enduring: the idea that imagination, when paired with patience and collaboration, can quite literally reach beyond the stars.

Whether the June 5 landing succeeds or not, the project has already achieved something remarkable — expanding the boundaries of what space missions can represent, and who they are meant to serve.