This Wednesday, ESA officially inaugurated a new facility which will play a central role in Europe’s next lunar missions: a center specially designed to imitate the surface of the Moon so that astronauts can prepare for the next expeditions to the best possible conditions.
This infrastructure, called LUNAis located right next to ESA’s European Astronaut Center in Cologne. It will facilitate the integrated research, development and testing of space technologies under realistic conditions, providing valuable information for future lunar missions, such as NASA’s famous Artemis program.
A huge lunar sandbox
The main attraction is a 700 square meter area covered with 900 tonnes of basalt-derived rocks, crushed to precisely replicate lunar regolith — the layer of dust and rock that covers the surface of our satellite.
It is a material that has no real equivalent on our planet, and represents a serious challenge in terms of mobility. This thin substrate offers very limited traction; the astronauts of the Apollo program, for example, experienced great difficulty walking there and moving their vehicles there. But thanks to this lunar sandbox, future explorers will be much better prepared. They will be able to practice evolving on this substitute lunar regolith in order to be much more effective once in the field.
But this is not the only problem associated with this material. Unlike small terrestrial mineral particles, the constituents of regolith have not had the opportunity to be polished by winds or the circulation of liquid water. The regolith grains are therefore very irregular and sharp, making this material extremely abrasive.
This is a central concern for space agencies, which must absolutely take this factor into account when designing astronaut equipment. Otherwise, certain elements such as the seals which allow the suits to remain airtight could be damaged very quickly – with obviously catastrophic consequences in this oh-so-hostile environment.
A versatile testing platform
ESA and its partners will therefore be able to test lots of specialized equipment within the LUNA center. And it’s not just the suits, but also all the other devices that astronauts will use during their missions. The European agency mentions, for example, a “ deep floor area », which will allow you to practice drilling and taking samples up to three meters below the surface.
The facility also features a solar simulator that mimics the day and night cycles on the Moon, including the harsh lighting conditions found in our satellite’s polar regions. This last point is very important; in fact, a large part of the most promising sites for future exploration and colonization missions are located at the south pole of the Moon. Astronauts will therefore have an interest in getting used to these very particular conditions before venturing there.
There still remains one last major obstacle which is much more difficult to reconstruct on Earth: the difference in gravity. This fundamental force of nature is approximately 6 times weaker on the Moon than on our planet. Unfortunately, there is no device capable of modifying it at will in a well-defined space; at present, this remains the prerogative of science fiction. To simulate lower gravity, astronauts often train in large swimming pools specially designed for this purpose. But this approach has limits which prove completely prohibitive in the case of LUNA. For example, immersing the lunar regolith substitute in liquid would significantly change its properties, and by extension, make the simulator much less interesting.
But the ESA still found a way to fill this gap. In the future, it will soon provide LUNA with a specialized suspension systemwith motorized harnesses which will limit the influence of Earth’s gravity on the astronauts.
A playground for all space professionals
« Opening of LUNA marks important milestone in European space exploration efforts “, said Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the ESA. “ With its ability to replicate lunar conditions, this unique facility advances our understanding of the Moon and prepares us for future missions. We are proud to lead this project which positions Europe at the forefront of lunar exploration and beyond, while fostering international collaboration in space research », he insists in reference to other agencies and institutions which will also benefit from the simulator.
It will be interesting to see how space agencies, universities, researchers and companies around the world exploit this one-of-a-kind facility, especially as we approach the third phase of the Artemis program which will send astronauts to the Moon for the first time since over 50 years old.
Source: www.journaldugeek.com
