Engineers of NASA have simulated in the laboratory the lighting that the landing module of the Artemis 3 will have on the moon. The mission will take the first group of people to explore the Lunar in mid -2027 (at least this is the current forecast). For this, the team now seeks to understand what light will look like in the lunar environment to prepare astronauts.
Scientists use high intensity lamps and models of the landing module, surface and lunar rocks, to simulate moon conditions in the laboratory “Flat Floor Facility”. The place is like an air hockey table, where people can easily move heavy objects and move on a “frictionless” floor, according to the agency.
“The goal is to really understand how shadows will affect visual inspection and ratings assessment efforts along a future manned mission,” said Emma Jaynes, the installation test engineer, in a communication.
Shadows on the moon can have miles
The test team uses 12 and 6 kilowatt lamps to replicate the low angle and high contrast conditions of the lunar south pole. Fabric bands on the floor has been used to imitate the regolith – Layer of rocks that make up the soil of the moon.
“The sun is at a permanently low angle at the southern hub of the moon. This means that astronauts will experience high contrasts between the illuminated and shaded regions. White color can become blinding under direct sunlight, while the shadows behind a rock can extend through meters, and behind a landing module can extend by kilometers,” Jaynes reported.
The laboratory is large enough for astronauts and scientists to circulate freely and can see the phenomenon to the naked eye of various angles. According to NASA, this adds knowledge to the experiments known as “tests with humans in the circuit.”
“Because Flat Floor Facility is similar to an inverted air hockey table, NASA and our industry partners can easily rearrange large and heavy structures – and inspect the effects of shadows from various angles, helping to ensure the success of the Mission and the safety of astronauts on Artemis III,” he explained and engineer.
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Mission will investigate southern Moon Pole
NASA is working with Spacex To develop the “Starship Human Pousing System”, a variant of the Starship ship designed to send Artemis 3 astronauts to the lunar surface.
The mission will take humans back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo program for over five decades. In addition, astronauts will explore the South Lunar hub, a region still unknown to researchers who can house important scientific discoveries such as water.
