Chinese Scientists Conduct Experiment Simulating Life on the Moon

In a specialized laboratory in Beijing, an experiment was launched to simulate life on the moon.

Four student volunteers are set to spend 200 days in complete isolation, the CGTN television channel reported.

The experiment is taking place at the Yuegong laboratory or the "Lunar Palace" located at Beihang University. It is an isolated cabin with an area of 160 square meters. This is the first such laboratory developed in China and the third bioregenerative base of life support in the world.

Beihang University is implementing a project for living in conditions similar to those on the moon, lasting for 365 days. A group of four volunteers on Sunday completed a 60-day stay at the "Lunar Palace." Now the next stage is a 200-day stay. Once completed, the following will commence, lasting 105 days.

The area of the experiment consists of a 42-square-meter module for the volunteers and two modules for growing plants. In the residential compartment there are four separate sleeping pods, one common room, bathroom, animal room and waste treatment room.

According to the researchers, such experiments help Chinese scientists make leaps in the study of what humans will first need for long missions to the moon.