Here's what we know about the robots that might build our first homes on the Moon

This time, though, they'll have one noble mission: to build shelter the first human colonizers will inhabit. A team of Japanese scientists is working to make this a reality. They started a company called ispace with the intention of launching a private space mission to the Moon. And they want to get started on it soon: the team is planning its first mission for late 2019, and a second in 2020. The Moon is smaller than our other planetary neighbors, but it could become a second home for an exponentially growing human population back on Earth.