Robotics lab at ESTEC

A few weeks before the inauguration of the LUNA facility, the robotics team in their laboratory at ESTEC, ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands, practise a carefully-planned choreography to demonstrate the capabilities of their cutting-edge machines, Interact and Spot. Known as the Moon on Earth, the LUNA facility was unveiled in September 2024 near the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. This groundbreaking simulated lunar environment is designed to prepare for humanity's return to the Moon. To celebrate its opening, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer collaborated with the robotics team to showcase the potential of human-robot teamwork for space exploration.

Find out more about how the team prepared the show: https://blogs.esa.int/exploration/making-a-moon-robot-show-on-earth