The European Space Center in Cologne has a facility called LUNA. It is a giant hangar that is filled with 900 tons of lunar regolith. It is the most detailed replica of the lunar surface that exists on Earth.
Piece of the Moon in Germany
On Wednesday, September 25, in the German city of Cologne officially opened the LUNA facility. It is an accurate copy of the lunar surface on Earth and belongs to the European Space Agency. From the outside, it looks like a giant white hangar.
If you go inside, you’re literally on the surface of our moon. After all, the creators of this miracle artificially produced 900 tons of high-quality imitation of the lunar regolith and placed it inside, carefully imitating the lighting conditions.
European astronauts who are going to fly to the Moon will train here. The room is 9 meters high, and its ceiling is black and perfectly imitates space. ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer has already visited the LUNA facility and shared his impressions of it.
“It’s a unique facility because it integrates so many different elements that nobody else around the globe has, not even NASA,” Maurer said. Its words should be believed, since among all Europeans, he is the most likely candidate to fly to the Moon as part of the Artemis program.
Lunar dust
The lunar test site built by ESA is much more complex than it may seem. Even the “lunar regolith” on it is not simple. It resembles wet sand, and people subconsciously expect it to be very dense. But if you touch it, it turns out to be a very fine dust that can hang in the air for a long time.
It was made from volcanic tuff based on research conducted during the Apollo program. For this purpose, it was first grinded, then sifted, and finally mixed. The result is very similar to the original, but the latter is even harder to work with. Its particles have sharp edges and can damage the spacesuit.
LUNA also provides astronauts with another interesting feature. The cooling pipes are hidden beneath the surface. Thanks to them, the ground can be frozen to a depth of up to 3 meters. Therefore, astronauts can practice drilling it. There are also conditions on the test site to verify how people in spacesuits will overcome a 50° slope.
According to phys.org
