Earth's Craters Aid Lunar Exploration

Exploring the Moon is something that has been achieved before, but that even to this day remains extremely difficult to do. As policymakers decide to give more and more money to space exploration, space agencies around the world are dedicating increased levels of resources to developing new technologies that would enable them to deliver astronauts and large amounts of cargo to the Moon.

All the rovers, landers, orbiters and rockets that are being produced at this point are part of this larger objective. Now, experts turn for help to natural features on Earth that could help them in their explorations of the Moon, Space reports.

Such an instance is currently taking place in Canada, where a crater formed millions of years ago provides scientists with unique terrain and conditions to test and prepare its astronauts for long-term, lunar mission. Deep in the Nunavut Territory, in the Canadian Arctic, the Devon Island houses the Haughton impact site. Currently, a team of researchers is working there in an attempt to provide space agencies with the necessary scientific background in devising suitable geological and biological experiments that could be successfully deployed on the Moon.

Because of its unique location, in a desolate, frigid Arctic environment, the crater has been for a long time a preferred target for investigators and science groups seeking to test out new spacesuits or rovers, destined for space exploration. The freezing temperatures at the location are way above those on the Earth's natural satellite, but they do give engineers a clue as to what they're up against. Work has been ongoing at the site for more than 12 years, and scientists have even set up a simulated Martian environment there, where experts work in the same conditions they would be under on the Red Planet. The site is called the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station.

The team, which published its findings in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Planetary and Space Science, says that, for example, space is one of the primary requirements for a mission to the Moon or Mars. Astronauts need to have a lot of room to study samples in the lab, and also a lot of space in their living quarters. The rovers, or whatever is used for locomotion and getting around, would also need ample storage space. All of this translates into high energy requirements that would need to be satisfied from renewable sources, the experts say.

“Some field geologists may consider many of these findings to be unsurprising or 'common sense;' however, we believe that this kind of study is important to inform mission planning. By conducting science in an analog environment on Earth, we can learn how to conduct fieldwork beyond the Earth,” the group concludes.