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Space: visit “Luna”, the replica that allows you to experience a trip to the Moon without leaving Earth
Space: visit “Luna”, the replica that allows you to experience a trip to the Moon without leaving Earth
(France 2)
In Cologne, Germany, “Luna”, a 700 square meter hangar, allows astronauts from the European Space Agency to train for lunar expeditions.
It is a place that has been kept secret until now: a sky as black as ink, a ground of fine dust, craters… It offers a journey 384,000 kilometers from our atmosphere, while remaining on Earth. In Cologne, Germany, a hangar of the European Space Agency allows you to train for trips to the Moon.
“It’s beautiful, it’s a bit mystical”enthuses German astronaut Matthias Maurer. Terrestrial minerals reconstitute the lunar soil. Some rocks “are volcanic and come from Etna, in Italy. Others come from impact craters in southern Germany”explains Matthias Maurer.
The hangar, named “Luna,” measures 700 square meters and houses 900 tons of volcanic rock, finely crushed to recreate what is known as lunar regolith. This is the first time that the lunar environment has been reshaped in this way since the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
Watch the full report in the video above.