There's now a basketball court-sized 'Moon' on Earth
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center have created an ambitious project to simulate the Moon's conditions on Earth. The effort, dubbed the LUNA (Lunar Analog) facility, is situated at the European Astronaut Centre near Cologne, Germany. The facility has 900 tons of pulverized volcanic rock, akin to lunar soil, laid out over an area just bigger than a basketball court.
A training ground for astronauts
The LUNA facility acts as a training ground where astronauts can experience Moon-like conditions. The artificial lunar soil, or regolith, in this 700-square-meter hall is made from volcanic soils from Italy's Mount Etna, Germany's Eifel region, and rocks from Norway. Juergen Schlutz, LUNA Facility Engineer and Moon Strategy Lead at European Space Agency, said the facility has about "900 tons of regolith simulating material" to replicate the dusty environment and mobility on the lunar surface.
Simulating lunar conditions at the facility
The LUNA facility also employs movable ceiling-mounted trolleys to recreate the Moon's low-gravity environment. These trolleys follow the movements of a suspended astronaut or rover. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst stressed that this facility mimics "most aspects that we will encounter on the moon," such as "the surface, the lunar dust, the rocks, [and] the lighting."
Astronauts demonstrate lunar exploration at LUNA facility
At the LUNA facility, astronauts Matthias Maurer (Germany) and Thomas Pesquet (France) showed how they would collect samples and explore a crater on the real Moon. The hangar's lighting was adjusted to simulate how sunlight would block an astronaut's vision during an actual lunar mission. Cables attached to their spacesuits' exterior created resistance as they walked, and suspended them mid-air as they jumped, making their training experience all the more real.
LUNA's soil: A close match to Moon's surface
The lunar soil at LUNA is created from volcanic rock dug from the Siebengebirge mountain range, which is situated near the facility. The rock is then processed to closely mimic the Moon's surface. The artificial lunar regolith, dubbed EAC-1, is based on volcanic powder that settled in Germany's Eifel region some 45 million years ago. ESA has been experimenting with the material for years now, even using it to create "moon bricks" for potential use in future lunar colonies.
