‘In what’s likely to become India’s biggest science programme in the next few years, Isro has started work on building igloos on the Moon. These ‘lunar habitats’, as scientists call them, will be built by sending robots and 3D printers to the Moon, and by using lunar soil and other material.
The project has seen progress with a working model – created using a 3D printer – sitting in the space agency’s lunar terrain test facility. Scientists have drawn up five designs of the lunar habitats, and hope their work could contribute to plans of creating outposts on the Moon. Although there’s no mission plan yet, Isro wants to have the technology ready for building these structures….( Source-The Times Of India)
Ladies and Gentleman, I am now convinced that there is actually something within me, that functions like this body clock business. I must confess, that all these years, I disregarded the distinguished men of science for this theory they touted.
Yet, being unceremoniously woken up by this rhythm nonsense is no fun, I tell you. And more so, for the immensely nocturnal kind like me. Now for the uninitiated, this author works on a circadian clock of a strange era.
To put it mildly, yours truly is wide awake till the unearthly hour of 0200 dawns on humanity at large. It may also be prudent to add, that when this sleep happens, it is much like like a proverbial log that lies in a state of horizontal equilibrium, till the clock strikes eight in the morning.
But this one time, the morning of 26th February of the year 2018 was different…
I knew this was a sign of my brains’ basic wiring getting tampered with, while I was deep in slumber. Little did I know that it was more than that…
The ISRO announced their intention to build igloos on the lunar surface and all this without even informing me. I mean, I have been crying hoarse about the need to build sustainable housing on other planets, our earth’s moon and so on and have written several thousands of words on these matters.
I know Stephen Hawking would have been happy with me, yet, right here in my backyard, I wasn’t even asked for my views on the matter. Sacrilege I tell you! But as you all know, these men of science rarely read beyond what their academics prescribes or so I am given to understand.
Now you know why, Good ol’ Newton sat on what he thought was the law of gravity and our man Archimedes continued to scream in his bathtub and the world scoffed at them.
But that is not the point here, The point here is that ISRO is getting on with this igloo plan. Now this will also mean, Branson will have to figure how best to transport me from Pisoli in a jiffy. After all, who else can test this facility.
Yes I am no man of science, but I can assure them that my huge experience in dealing with the langurs that drop by, or my expertise in negotiating the roads of Pisoli may come in handy on the lunar surface.
I do have a few suggestions on this project to make it commercially viable and given my vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of my illustrious part of Pune, I may be of interest to the ISRO from the monetary perspective as well.
For a start, we can always start with ensuring there is a copious amount of ale and some banana chips from my home state.
This will ensure that our igloo construction team is well looked after and in a state of permanent elevation keeping in mind their distance from mother Earth.
We could also think of getting our friends in the vada-pav business in Pune to start an extension counter to produce the stuff. Bereft of the gravitational forces, it will probably use much less oil to deep fry the vadas.
I did think of the Misal too, but my scientist buddies here have warned me of the possibility of flying Farsan. Nuts on the ground are safer than one in the air, Or, So I am told.
Mind you, I did try and call my buddy Stephen for a few tips, but apparently he wasn’t in a mood to talk. In fact, I suspect the ISRO hasn’t keep him in the loop either.
This is the perennial problem in our country. The real experts are those who are lurking in the shadows and never consulted. I shudder to think what will happen of these igloos, bereft of people like us working on this project.
On that note, let me with your permission, get back to entertaining my visitors who have, as always, without my permission, landed in my backyard…
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#First Published in February 2018. Reproduced for reader interest.
Jd also consults in Consumer Neuroscience and Neuromarketing, both of which are integral to his brand interventions.
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