The European Space Agency (ESA) and German Aerospace Centre (DLR) have opened a lunar replica centre in Cologne, which simulates the experience of landing on the moon.

ESA and DLR open lunar simulation centre in Germany

Astronauts in training can now visit a lunar replica centre in Cologne to prepare for their trip to the moon. The ESA and DLR’s LUNA training centre simulates lunar conditions so that space technology can be tested and developed without leaving Earth. 

The moon-like structure features a crater and can also simulate reduced gravity and moon dust, which is said to be sticky and sharp, like sandpaper. To recreate the moon-like dust in Cologne, volcanic grains were taken from a regolith in the Siebengebirge mountains near Bonn.

Financed by ESA, DLR and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the 700-square-metre lunar centre cost around 45 million euros to construct.

When is the next space mission expected?

Now that the LUNA centre has opened, it will be used by the European Astronaut Centre to train astronauts for missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

However, despite the Cologne training centre opening, according to ESA director Josef Aschbacher, it is unlikely that a European astronaut will make it to the moon by 2030.

The Artemis 3 trip planned by NASA for September 2026 will be the first time any astronaut has set foot on the moon since Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on December 14, 1972. China and India have also announced plans for a moon landing in the coming years, with the former setting a goal for 2030 and the latter for 2040.

Thumb image credit: © ESA / DLR