To help shape Europe’s Moon exploration plans, a new lunar analogue facility has been established.
LUNA is operated jointly by the European Space Agency and the German Aerospace Agency (Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR).
The inauguration of LUNA took place today in Cologne, Germany and features a 700-square-meter area that replicates the Moon’s surface. To make it lunar-like meant using 900 tons of basalt-derived volcanic grains and rocks, processed to create a material known as “regolith simulant.”
External view of LUNA with the main entrance and external lunar module (VR rendering).
Image credit: ESA/DLR
The unique facility is located next to ESA’s European Astronaut Center and will be used to prepare astronauts, scientists, engineers and mission experts for living and working on the Moon.
Key attributes
LUNA’s role as “Moon on Earth” will also involve robotics as well as artificial intelligence, helping to hone the tools needed for projected on-the-spot utilization of local lunar resources.
Image credit: DLR/ESA
Key attributes of LUNA is a deep floor area that can allow for drilling and sampling up to three meters below the surface, enabling research on regolith including frozen lunar soil. A Sun simulator mimics the day and night cycles on the Moon, including the challenging lighting conditions found at lunar polar regions.
Lava tubes too!
LUNA also offers a simulated lava tube, mimicking a subsurface shelter to thwart micrometeorites or habitats that provide nearly constant temperatures. Additionally, lava tubes could host ice deposits and provide access to the underlying bedrock.
Image credit: VR rendering/ESA/DLR
The presence of lava tubes on the Moon has been inferred based on observed collapsed features and supported by radar measurements.
Mission simulations
Advanced control rooms are linked in real-time to mission control centers in Germany and worldwide. In the future, the analogue facility will also be connected to the Lunar Gateway, or even the Moon itself for seamless mission simulations.
According to an ESA/DLR statement, additional features will soon be implemented such as a gravity offloading system to simulate the Moon’s one-sixth of Earth gravity and an adjustable ramp for testing mobility on lunar slopes.
“LUNA is designed as an open hub, available to space agencies, academia, researchers, space industry, start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises from all over the world,” the statement notes.