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Golden packages on the Moon? Not exactly. This is no extraterrestrial gift depot, but a cutting-edge project in the LUNA hall. Here, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has been researching how payload boxes, sensors, rovers and astronauts can connect to form an integrated network.

The uppermost meter(s) of the lunar subsurface potentially hold significant resources, like water ice, or lava tubes as possible shelters, that are crucial for a sustainable human presence on the Moon. While these depths are accessible to human and robotic exploration, the first step is knowing where to explore. Geophysical

The week of 11th of November 2024 marked the start of external user campaigns in LUNA, with two teams and MUSC (DLR’s Microgravity User Support Center) working together on measuring seismic vibrations. One team from ISAE-SUPAERO (Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace) in Toulouse, France, was testing geophones for

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is one of the world’s largest space conferences. Here, contracts are signed, scientific results are introduced to experts and strategic plans of the space agencies are communicated. In the last few years, we have only been able to present ideas, concepts and rendered images of

The Moon now also exists on Earth – for the training of astronauts, the development of technologies and the preparation of long-term missions: The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the European Space Agency ESA have now jointly established the LUNA research facility. The LUNA

Have you ever been sitting at your desk, slogging through another round of emails, and thought, “This would be so much easier if I only weighed 16.5% of my current weight”? No? Just us? Well, whether you’ve thought about it or not, let us introduce you to the next big

The excitement for the inauguration of the LUNA facility is unmistakable. Almost daily, new shipments of equipment arrive.
The past few weeks have been marked by intensive preparations as the joint team from ESA and DLR works toward a historic event that could represent a significant step for future

Our mission? A team from Oberpfaffenhofen – consisting of video engineers Heike and Ilinca and network engineer Uwe – spent a week in Cologne to set up the perfect technology in the Luna Hall and optimise the lunar simulation for future astronaut experiments and training sessions.

Over the last few weeks, the main hall of LUNA has been transformed into a real lunar surface. The industrial building has become a dark, dusty environment that can only be entered with protective equipment similar to astronaut suits.

Lava tubes as subsurface shelters against micrometeorites or habitats with nearly constant temperatures will become an important exploration target. Additionally, they are of scientific relevance as they could host ice deposits and provide access to the underlying bedrock.