2024-09-26 09:07:30
To prepare astronauts for moon missions, Germany now has its own training hall. Even reduced gravity is simulated there.
A piece of the lunar surface in Germany: The European Space Agency Esa has transformed a hall in Cologne into a lunar landscape to prepare astronauts worldwide for future missions to the Earth’s satellite.
In recent years, an industrial building has been transformed into a dark, dusty environment that can only be entered with protective equipment similar to astronaut suits. This Wednesday, the training hall called “Luna Analog Facility” was officially opened.
The inauguration of the new facility is an important milestone in European space research, explained ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. Luna positions Europe “at the forefront” of lunar exploration and will also further advance international cooperation in space exploration.
According to ESA, the facility is unique in the world. Among other things, it has lunar craters, and also simulates lunar dust and reduced gravity. The facility has a 700 square meter area with loose earth and rock particles, such as those found on the lunar surface.
According to ESA, there is also a “dust chamber, an airlock, a gas laboratory, a separate workshop and several preparation and storage rooms”. This is where the astronauts will test and train possible exploration and mission procedures. In addition, new technologies, tools and equipment for use on the moon will be developed and tested in the facility.
Among other things, the training hall includes a simulated lava tube. Lava tubes could serve as underground shelter for astronauts on the moon against micrometeorites and, according to ESA, are an exploration target for future lunar missions.
The tubes could also “accommodate ice deposits […] and provide access to the underlying bedrock,” it says. In the ESA training center, the cavity of the simulated lava tube is not made of lunar rock, but of polystyrene foam panels, but the conditions inside are similar to those of the tubes on the moon.
A main initiator of the Luna project is German astronaut Matthias Maurer, who flew to the International Space Station ISS in November 2021 as part of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission.
During his stay there, he was involved in numerous scientific experiments and conducted an extravehicular activity (spacewalk).
The “Artemis” program envisages a manned capsule flying around the moon next year. A manned moon landing attempt is planned for a year later.
The plan is to land the first woman and the first black person on the lunar surface. An essential part of the “Artemis” program is the development of the “Lunar Gateway” space station, which will be stationed in orbit around the moon.
It is intended to serve as a base for future moon missions and potentially for flights to Mars. Construction of this station is scheduled to begin in the coming years. An exact date has not yet been set.