NASA Dives Into Its Giant Swimming Pool As Moon Simulator For Future Spacewalks

Before NASA’s crew of astronauts takes their first steps on the Moon again, a little training is being called to get them ready to acclimatize to the nature of the strange lunar surface.
 
The space exploration company has recreated the environment here on Earth under the waves of its giant swimming pool at the Sonny Carter Training Facility in Houston, Texas. It can hold up to 6.2 million gallons of water to simulate the feeling of zero gravity. This diving tank ranges from 202 feet long, 102 feet wide, and 40 feet deep.

NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) has come a long way from training for the Apollo missions at the Water Immersion Facility at the Johnson Space Center to now simulating the Moon’s rocky terrain. The NBL was born in 1995 out of the need for a bigger pool to prepare astronauts for subsequent missions, including the International Space Shuttle training.

However, this isn’t just any ordinary pool. Instead, it’s designed to help astronauts familiarize themselves with the weightlessness and unique movements required to navigate an alien environment. And to make the experience even more realistic, the NBL is undergoing a makeover that includes the addition of sand and lunar regolith at the bottom of the tank.

NASA isn’t stopping there. To truly capture the feeling of walking on the lunar surface, they’re also installing panels that create inclines and declines and adding boulders and rocks that mimic the Moon’s rugged terrain. With the help of global service solutions company V2X, the NBL is being transformed into a more immersive environment.

As Artemis is bound to land on the Moon’s south pole, its peculiar lighting conditions are being experimented with in the NBL pool to help the astronauts get acquainted with the lack of sun. They will also be trained to handle emergency responses should anything happen.
 
Divers are currently testing the recreated Moon surface ahead of the crew to perfect the simulated environment.
 
 
 
[via Space.com and Gizmodo, images via NASA]