Anyone who has ever spent a day on the beach knows how stubborn fine sand can be. Weeks later you can still find it in shoes and bags, between book pages and in other impossible places, and hope that it hasn’t found its way into your cell phone.
Moon travelers also have a very similar problem. The moon is covered with fine dust called regolith. It was created by numerous meteorite impacts and has unpleasant properties. Because where there is no wind or weather, dust grains are not smooth, but sharp-edged. Mondstaub is also more electrostatically charged, meaning it “sticks” more to spacesuits and objects.
If you’re not careful, you’ll carry it with you everywhere, and unlike beach sand, that’s not just annoying, but potentially dangerous, as the astronauts of the first manned Apollo moon missions learned over 50 years ago: Regolith irritated their eyes and respiratory tract and also damaged the zippers of their suits.
Also the seals of airlocks or the joints and the highly sensitive microelectronics of spacecraft can attack regolith. All of this makes dust a serious problem for anyone who wants to fly to the moon in the future. And these are just a few: IfChina, Russia – they are all working on manned lunar missions, just like the US NASA. NASA operates the Artemis program in cooperation with the space agencies from Europe (Esa), Canada (CSA) and Japan (Jaxa).
After Apollo, Artemis flies into space
A first unmanned exploration flight (Artemis I) took place in November 2022. In the coming months, four North American astronauts will fly around the moon in Artemis II. With Artemis III and Artemis IV, humans are supposed to set foot on the moon again this decade and for the first time since 1972, including, at least according to the current plan, a German.
Unlike the Space Race of the 1960s and 1970s, it’s not just about the prestigious landing itself. This time, the astronauts will stay for several weeks or even longer for research purposes, to obtain raw materials and also as a training run for a possible mission to Mars. Every grain of moondust is too much, and you should practice how to deal with it beforehand.
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The place where this works is near Cologne-Bonn Airport. On the campus-like grounds of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Luna opened in September 2024the world’s only lunar simulation facility. A white cube on the outside with an elegantly clad facade, and a large sandpit on the inside.
The construction and operation to date have cost 45 million euros. For comparison: the Artemis program has now consumed over 80 billion dollars. Esa had the idea for Luna in 2015 and DLR was involved from the start, which is also why the moon is now in Cologne.
When the concept was presented at conferences, people were initially somewhat laughed at, says Petra Mittler, one of the deputy Luna project managers. But when the Artemis program became more concrete, it was over. “And yes, some people are probably a bit jealous now. But we have a good lead for now.”
900 tons of fake moon dust
Before Mittler takes you inside Luna, you first have to put on painter’s suits – in style with a glued-on Luna badge -, overshoes, a hairnet and a breathing mask. This is how it goes into a transition lock. The interior should be protected from profane earth dust.
Then the gate rolls up and reveals the view of the moon. The walls of the 700 square meter and 9 meter high Luna Hall are clad in black. In one corner, as striking as a prop from a B-movie, stands a prototype of the European Argonaut lunar module. The crucial things happen on the ground. Around 900 tons of fine gray dust cover the hall. It forms small dunes and valleys, with boulders lying here and there. The layer is at least 60 centimeters deep, sometimes several meters.
It is of course not a true lunar regolith. The material was obtained practically next door, in Königswinter in the Siebengebirge. That was more of a happy coincidence, says Petra Mittler. The boulders that are scattered throughout the Luna regolith, however, come from southern Germany, Etna in Sicily and the Norwegian Lofoten. It is always crucial that the rock is as similar as possible to that on the moon in terms of material and properties.
Moon dust has sharp edges and sticks strongly. This is a problem for longer stays
Just like on a day at the beach, in the Luna Hall, not only the sand but also the sun plays a big role. So far it has been a powerful film spotlight – a newly developed solar simulator will be installed in the spring – and is only just above the horizon, just as it does at the south pole of the moon Goal of the Artemis lunar mission and comparable programs from India, Russia and China.
There are mountain peaks here that are almost always in sunlight, which is good for generating electricity with solar panels. At the same time, there are craters here in permanent shadow, a possible location for the water reserves that are considered safe on the moon.
Now sunlight behaves differently on the moon than on Earth. Even when the sun is just above the horizon, it shines brightly, which again has to do with the lack of atmosphere. Without molecules in the air, the light does not scatter like it does at dusk on Earth; light and dark form much more stark contrasts. This takes just as much getting used to for humans as it does for the automatic terrain recognition of rovers and other machines. So that too needs to be trained.
Training grounds or film set – why not both?
Since it opened, research groups have been able to book Luna for so-called campaigns, which are usually two to three days long, some run over several weeks. Because like the real moon, this one does not belong exclusively to Esa. Luna is also accessible to researchers from other nations and universities, and even commercial companies can register projects. “They not only took their findings with them, but also shared them with us and the scientific community,” says Petra Mittler.
In November, students from several German universities took test drives with the Janus rover developed at the University of Bremen, which at some point Roll through the huge canyon system on Mars should. And shortly before, a team from the University of Tokyo tested a device that artificially generates seismic energy and will also be used in the Artemis program.
It is intended to determine the thickness and structure of the regolith on the moon and to locate occurrences of water ice in the soil. Almost 1,000 pieces of plexiglass are hidden in the Luna regolith for precisely such purposes. There is also a tunnel that corresponds to the tubular caves made of cooled lava beneath the lunar surface.
Not everything can be simulated in Luna, such as the near-vacuum on the moon and the extreme temperatures, which can vary between -233 and 123 degrees. And then there’s the matter of gravity. On the moon this is only one sixth of the Earth’s gravity. Everything is easier, including yourself.
Since gravity cannot be easily adjusted, a new gravity relief system was developed for Luna that supports most of the weight. It’s called puppeteer because spacesuits and rovers are attached to the ceiling with long strings. However, thanks to sophisticated technology, these cannot get tangled up.
“We don’t have to choreograph anything, the astronauts can move completely freely and turn around each other as they please,” says Petra Mittler. “For example, we can also practice emergency rescue scenarios.” At least if everything goes well: the system’s training operations should start in the summer.
The so-called Flexhab should also be available for use in 2026 and will be connected to the Luna Hall via direct access including a lock. It can be used to simulate multi-day missions completely isolated from the outside world. The converted cargo container offers four sleeping berths, work surfaces for experiments, a kitchenette, a wet room, fitness equipment, a seating area, all in less than 30 square meters. The tightness also trains for later missions.
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The only question is what happens if the Artemis program runs out of money. Financially it is primarily borne by NASA and therefore the US government. But with Donald Trump you can never be sure whether he will lose interest at some point or whether he will reduce the program for a high-profile budget cut to a representative landing without further stops – simply to emerge as the winner in the space race with China.
Petra Mittler isn’t worried about that. “But the idea of people flying to the moon again will never completely disappear,” she says. “It is clear that a trip to Mars is not possible otherwise. That is why it is only a matter of time before future moon travelers come to Cologne to train in Luna.”
They would then probably have even more opportunities to let off steam in the sand. At some point there will be a regolith-ice mixture in the Luna Hall. Basically, for lunar missions there is also the idea of baking the regolith into solid structures under high temperatures and in this way Building material to win directly on site. This could also be practiced well in Luna. And the lunar module in the corner should be replaced with a model that fulfills at least some of the functions of the original. Luna will probably never be finished, says Petra Mittler.