How Europe’s creating the moon on Earth

Sub : Sci

Sec: Space

LUNA Analog Facility: Simulating the Moon on Earth

Developed by the German Space Agency (DLR) and European Space Agency (ESA), the LUNA Analog Facility was unveiled in September 2024.
Its purpose is to recreate the moon’s environment for training astronauts and testing new technologies.
Key components include:
- Artificial lunar soil (regolith) from volcanic soils of Italy, Germany’s Eifel region, and Norwegian rocks.
- Special lighting to simulate the sun’s angle and harsh shadows astronauts would face on the moon.

Challenges in Simulating the Moon:

One crucial element, lunar gravity, is missing from the facility. On the moon, gravity is one-sixth that of Earth.
Unlike parabolic flights or swimming pools, which simulate zero-gravity, LUNA’s land-based setup makes this hard to achieve.
- Parabolic flights use refitted jet aircraft to recreate the loss of gravity by ascending to and descending from high altitudes at 45-degree angles.
- Astronaut training swimming pools are also specially equipped, and the astronauts perform mock exercises in spacesuits.
Proposed solution: Engineers plan to develop a “gravity offload system”, where astronauts are suspended by cables to mimic moon-like gravity. This system is still in the prototype phase.

Training Exercises:

During the unveiling, astronauts Matthias Maurer and Thomas Pesquet conducted mock lunar missions in front of officials, using long-handled scoops, a sample trolley, and a robotic dog.
Although they could not experience moon-like gravity, the facility replicates the difficult lighting and terrain conditions astronauts will encounter on the real moon.
Regolith’s challenges: Lunar soil is highly abrasive, potentially damaging all electrical equipment and spacesuits. Testing these effects is a key part of LUNA’s purpose.
LUNA has room for further development, with additional modules nearby for habitat simulation and food cultivation (from the EDEN ISS experiment).
Future plans include the possibility of a “LUNA 2” for Mars training.

Global Connectivity:

LUNA can connect to mission control centers worldwide, allowing remote simulations. NASA astronauts could be guided through a mission simulation in Germany by teams in the US.
According to ESA officials, the LUNA facility signals Europe’s serious commitment to space exploration, supporting both NASA’s Artemis program and Europe’s goal of reaching the moon by the 2030s.

EDEN ISS experiment:

The goal of the EDEN ISS project is to advance controlled environment agriculture technologies beyond the state-of-the-art.
It focuses on ground demonstration of plant cultivation technologies and their application in space.
EDEN ISS develops safe food production for onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and for future human space exploration vehicles and planetary outposts.
EDEN ISS develops an advanced nutrient delivery system, a high performance LED lighting system, a bio-detection and decontamination system and food quality and safety procedures and technologies.
A mobile container-sized greenhouse test facility was built to demonstrate and validate different key technologies and procedures necessary for safe food production within a (semi-) closed system.

Source: IE