Posted on Monday October 21st, 2024 by Laura
In the first episode of the new ESA Explores series, "Road to the stars," we chat with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer about the LUNA facility, Europe's Moon on Earth.
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Posted on Friday July 19th, 2024 by Laura
Exciting developments are unfolding in Cologne, Germany, where ESA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are establishing a worldwide unique lunar analogue facility – LUNA. This week, the first lunar sandbag tapping —opening the bags to distribute the sand— marked an important step in preparing the hall for future Moon mission testing.
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Posted on Friday June 14th, 2024 by Laura
Anyone who has tried virtual reality (VR) applications knows about its many possibilities: from immersive video games and 360-degree movies, to virtual museum tours, meetings, or journeys to space – all from the comfort of your home. ESA’s extended reality (XR) lab at the European Astronaut Centre goes one step further and uses virtual, augmented […]
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Posted on Wednesday June 15th, 2022 by Ally
Filamentous fungi may not be the first thing most people think of when it comes to mining, but they could be the answer to construction on the Moon. João Figueira, a Master’s student with the University of Porto, Portugal, has been working with ESA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerospace Medicine, to uncover how a unique biomining method could mould Europe’s next steps in space.
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Posted on Tuesday December 21st, 2021 by Laura
Humankind's ambition to explore our steady orbital companion, the Moon, sustainably is accelerating around the globe. Many agencies are preparing for or already operating new robotic and human missions to the Moon, most prominently NASA’s Artemis programme that will fly astronauts to the Moon again about 50 years after Apollo. All international partners, including the European Space Agency (ESA), must prepare for upcoming lunar missions and a facility planned next to ESA's European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, will recreate Moon conditions on Earth like never before.
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Posted on Wednesday September 15th, 2021 by Ally
A piece of the Moon, escorted by astronaut to ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, will soon serve as a public symbol of Europe’s next off-Earth adventure.
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Posted on Thursday November 26th, 2020 by Laura
Integrated product design may not be an obvious fit with lunar exploration, but through a six-month internship within the Spaceship EAC team at ESA’s Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, Emilia Rosselli Del Turco of Italy has shown how smart design can be a space saver.
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