How Europe's creating the moon on Earth

Approaching a lunar mission requires incremental advancements, such as Europe's recent LUNA training facility setup. However, they're still short of the target. The subsequent step: installing a moon gravity simulator.

If you were to replicate the moon on Earth, you would require three fundamental components:

A soil-like substance with a chemical profile akin to lunar soil is present alongside special lighting that replicates the sun's angular placement. In addition, an apparatus is used to mimic the moon's gravitational pull, which is six times weaker than the Earth's gravitational force.

A very large container to accommodate everything, much like an enormous metal hangar.

By late September 2024, they obtained roughly two-thirds of the entire moon's distinctive landscape. One crucial component was still lacking.

Darkness was suddenly illuminated by a spotlight directed at two astronauts clad in full suits - Germany's Matthias Maurer and France's Thomas Pesquet.

Maurer and Pesquet marched across the hangar, with its 700 square meters (7,500 square foot) of artificial regolith, made from the volcanic soils of Italy's Mount Etna, the Eifel region in Germany and rocks from Norway.

Equipped with long-handled scoops, a sample collection trolley, and a robotic canine, the pair pretended to explore the simulated lunar surface in front of approximately a hundred dignitaries.

As they walked, the light caught them at a precise angle to mimic the way the sun's rays would interfere with an astronaut's view when humans potentially return to the moon later this decade.

— because LUNA has no lunar gravity.

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Against a cinematic soundtrack, Maurer and Pesquet showed how they would collect samples and explore a crater on the real moon. It was a visual showcase for the politicians and agency officials, who exchanged fist bumps with the astronauts for the benefit of the TV cameras and their respective teams.

It feels unexpectedly heavy, like being on Earth, without that sense of weightlessness associated with the Moon's gravitational pull. This is a challenge engineers are currently working to resolve.

In the past, space travelers have used parabolic flights and swimming pools to simulate and experience the effects of zero or low gravity.

Parabolic flights utilize refitted jet aircraft to simulate weightlessness by flying at extremely high altitudes at a 45-degree angle of ascent and descent.

Astronauts in training also use special pools designed to simulate the conditions of space, where they conduct training exercises while wearing their spacesuits.

Neither of these options would function in the LUNA Analog Facility due to it being land-based.

Rather, engineers hope to develop a "gravity offload system," said Andrea Emanuele Maria Casini, an aerospace engineer, who manages the LUNA project.

One has to envision it as hanging the astronauts like dolls.

The cables will be attached to the outside of the astronauts' spacesuits. They will probably pull them back as astronauts take steps and hold them in position as they jump.

The project is currently in the prototype stage, and until it's operational, Casini comments: LUNA is a notably costly sandbox. Nevertheless, it's intended to serve as a testing ground for new technological innovations and astronaut training within a controlled environment.

The magic will unfold within," said Casini. "The terrain will facilitate the return of the next generation of astronauts to the moon.

There remains the potential for additional growth. Next to the LUNA Analog Facility, there are not one, but two extra modules - a habitat simulator and a repurposed greenhouse originally part of the EDEN ISS experiment, which previously simulated the cultivation of food in cold space environments.

Adjacent to the main hall, there is an empty lot, which may be used in the future for a "LUNA 2" or Mars training facility.

"The Moon is the object in our solar system that orbits closest to our home planet Earth. It is now the subject of human fascination and interest. This inquiry is sparked by the various mysteries surrounding the Moon.

He has driven the idea from day one. He told that the facility captured the realities of the moon, even without the gravity offload system.

"In my opinion, when I walk down into the crater [in the facility] and have the sunlight fully in my face, I become temporarily blinded," stated Maurer. Additionally, because he is standing in the crater, everything in view before him is effectively obscured by the darkness cast by the surrounding crater ridge.

The simulation is a stress test for astronauts, exposing them to challenging and often contrasting conditions they will face on the lunar surface.

Another factor is the lunar regolith. "It's a major technical obstacle," Maurer stated. "It severely damages all electrical equipment, gets into moving parts and jams them, and is also damaging to space suits. We can try to simulate that here."

Links around the globe

LUNA can connect to mission control centers globally - from the DLR in Cologne and the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) in Munich to NASA in Houston, US, as well as the International Space Station.

This implies that simulations could be conducted remotely, with NASA astronauts, for instance, being led through a mission simulation in Germany by their teams located in the US.

According to ESA's special adviser for political affairs, Kai-Uwe Schrogl, the LUNA Analog Facility will be a symbol of Europe's dedication to space when it is fully operational.

LUNA provides credibility," Schrogl said. "You can talk a great deal about going to the moon and beyond, but if you only have a few rockets or a lander in the conceptual phase, then you aren't really credible. You need such a facility to demonstrate that you are serious.

Besides assisting NASA's Artemis program, Europe is also working towards a goal of lunar landing by the 2030s. The LUNA Analog Facility is a key step towards making that ambition a reality.

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

Author: Matthew Ward Agius