European Space Agency to 'bring' the Moon's surface to Earth. Here's how
European Space Agency is recreating the Moon's surface on earth so it can help astronauts. They collaborated with a mine in Greenland to create it.
European Space Agency took to Instagram and shared that they are recreating the Moon's surface on Earth. To do this, the agency collaborated with a mine in Greenland that will provide them with an anorthosite. As per ESA, anorthosite is "an igneous, light-coloured rock that has similar properties to material found on the Moon".
In the caption of the post, ESA also informed, "We’re building two testbeds at our European Astronaut Centre. One testbed will cover 700 square metres! It will mimic the lunar mare regions, and huge lava plains on the lunar surface. The other testbed will simulate a dusty lunar highland using about 20 tonnes of anorthosite. The plan is to use these environments to train astronauts who might one day go to the Moon, offering a full immersion and simulation of the lunar surface activities." (Also Read: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures 'snowman' 6,000 light-years away from Earth. See pic)
ESA further added, "They will also be used to develop new technologies, including those that use local lunar materials to generate oxygen, water, and building materials, for instance."
Take a look at their post here:
This post was shared just a few hours ago on Instagram. Since being posted, it has gained more than one lakh views. The post also has close to 4,000 likes and numerous comments. Many people were astonished to learn how the agency is planning to recreate the Moon's surface. (Also Read: 5 fascinating throwback pics of Earth by NASA that are timeless marvels)
Check out what people said about the video:
An individual wrote, "This is so cool."
A second commented, "The big problem on the Moon is the regolith and its gravity, and how to simulate it on earth for training lunar spacewalks and its impacts on human health and new lunar space technologies."
"Wow, this is amazing! Will this be open to the public? I ain’t no astronaut but, I want to see the moon," posted a third.
What are your thoughts on this?