Lunar Palace 1 or Moon Palace 1 or Yuegong-1, is a Chinese research facility for developing a moon base. It is an environmentally closed facility where occupants can simulate a long-duration self-contained mission with no outside inputs other than power/energy.
The “Lunar Palace” has two plant cultivation modules and a living cabin: 42 square metres containing four bed cubicles, a common room, a bathroom, a waste-treatment room and a room for raising animals.
A successful 105-day trial was conducted in 2014.
The Lunar Palace is the world’s third bioregenerative life-support base, and the first developed in China.
It is the only such facility to involve animals and microorganisms as well as plants and humans.
China is pouring billions into its military-run space programme and working to catch up with the United States and Europe, with hopes to have a crewed outpost by 2022.
Last month, China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, successfully completed docking with an orbiting space lab.