NASA astronauts will make a dark and shadowy expedition when they visit the Moon with the next Artemis mission. The space agency’s renewed passion for the Moon aims to take astronauts to our satellite by the end of this decade with a mission called Artemis.
With NASA’s new mission, astronauts will land on the Moon’s South Pole, a place where even the Sun barely rises. How will they survive in an area of extremely long shadow and dim surroundings? NASA is preparing to train future Moon explorers to suit the frightening conditions.
“Dark” simulation from NASA to Dark Moon mission
This week, Johnson Space Center released an image of NASA divers simulating what astronauts would live in the South Pole. Training takes place at the agency’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, a massive pool (12 meters deep) designed to simulate conditions in lower gravity.
NASA public relations expert Megan Dean said, “As NASA prepares to send the first woman and the first non-white person to the Moon’s South Pole as part of the Artemis program, divers at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Houston are using lunar illumination. by simulating it lays the groundwork for future Moonwalk training.” said.
NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory is usually a well-lit training space with plenty of light, but great effort has been made to keep it dark to suit this mission. Dean explained that in order for this test and evaluation to be done realistically, they turned off all the lights in the facility and placed black curtains on the pool walls to minimize reflections.
When will US astronauts set foot on the Moon? NASA plans to land a crew at the South Pole in 2025, although it may seem ambitious. But the space agency will first have to test its new mega rocket, called the Space Launch System, that can launch astronauts back to the Moon. NASA said the first test won’t take place before March 2022.
What do you think about NASA’s Moon missions? You can share your views with us in the comments section and on the SDN Forum.
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