Virtual Moon Walking The Next Giant Leap For Astronaut Training

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer tests a VR headset while wearing the ATLAS analogue suit inside the LUNA facility.

In a vast warehouse in Cologne, Germany, astronauts are walking on the Moon without ever leaving Earth. The European Space Agency’s LUNA facility, a 700-square-metre terrain filled with 900 tonnes of artificial lunar dust, is now combining physical simulation with virtual reality to prepare humans for returning to the lunar surface. The stark contrast between … Read more