A pool filled with sharp-edged dust – this is Europe’s largest artificial lunar environment. Frank Koch is standing at the edge of the pool. He is Chief Moon Operator at the Berlin-based company PTS Planetary Transportation Systems, which operates this facility in Rostock-Laage. The pool is 17 metres long and five metres wide, with the floor covered in around 40 centimetres of artificial lunar dust.

There are almost 400 kilograms of lunar rock on Earth. US astronauts and Soviet lunar probes brought it back to Earth over the last millennium. That is why we know the composition of the regolith. Accordingly, 40 tonnes of rock were mined from a quarry in the Harz Mountains and ground down to an extremely fine powder. It now lies in the test bed at Rostock-Laage.
 

Lunar environment to let

This artificial lunar environment costs between 1,500 and 2,000 euros per day to hire. The test facility can be completely darkened or extremely well lit, just like on the Moon. The lack of gravity can also be simulated. However, the least predictable factor is the lunar dust – the regolith – which covers the Moon and settles everywhere, explains Koch. “It gets into every gear.” Recently, a customer tested a rover that was completely sealed from the inside – and it held up all day. Yet at the end of the day, the testers found a kilo of regolith inside it.

Frank Koch’s company, PTS, is just one example of the New Space Economy, which is growing alongside the commercialisation of space travel and the boom in space tourism. Since private investors began venturing into space, this sector has also been developing in the capital region. In total, there are around 80 companies in Berlin and Brandenburg working in this field. These range from small start-ups and research institutions to medium-sized enterprises.

People on the Moon need roads

Irene Selvanthan, founder of the Berlin-based company Neuro-Space, has also tested a lunar rover developed by her firm in Rostock-Laage. “If people ever want to live on the Moon, an infrastructure will need to be put in place. That means building roads, setting up a power supply, and so on,” explains the entrepreneur. They would then be something like a small logistics company, transporting goods. Neuro-Space now employs seven staff and just as many students.

A magnifying glass concentrates sunlight and is designed to melt lunar rock into ceramics – a material for roads, runways or buildings. Image: rbb/Anke Burmeister

A small but creative community in the region

Berlin Partner, the state-owned agency for the promotion of business and technology, has an innovation officer for aerospace. Marielies Becker helps with funding, facilitates networking and provides advice. Alongside Munich and Bremen, Berlin is a key hub for the New Space Economy. Relevant degree programmes are available at the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Potsdam. The Charité is involved in space medicine, and the German Aerospace Centre in Berlin conducts research into space travel and transport.

There is a lack of large-scale industry compared to Munich or Bremen, but that is also an advantage, says Becker. “The relatively small community, with many young, very open-minded companies, is well connected. There are very close links between companies and research, and between the companies themselves.” This is conducive to creative and collaborative work.

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The boom is leading to ever-increasing amounts of space debris

However, the budget allocated to space programmes in the federal budget has fallen, criticises Professor Enrico Stoll, Head of the Department of Space Technology at the Technical University of Berlin. “If you look at space budgets, we in Europe are falling further and further behind,” says Stoll. What we are good at here, however, is making the most of what little we have. The TU Berlin has also already launched numerous satellites into space, mostly through spin-off companies that originated from the university.

Since private investors entered the space sector, transport costs – for example, for TU Berlin satellites – have fallen dramatically, whilst the number of satellites has risen: Over 7,500 satellites are currently in low Earth orbit, i.e. at a distance of between 500 and approximately 2,000 kilometres from Earth. A satellite has a maximum lifespan of ten years, and so space debris is becoming an ever-greater problem.

Recycling on the moon

However, according to Marcus Schladebach, the privatisation of space travel also offers an opportunity to address the issue of space debris through legislation. Schladebach is an expert in space law at the University of Potsdam. According to Article 6 of the Outer Space Treaty, Schladebach explains, private companies require authorisation for their activities in space. “Such authorisation from the state should only be granted to private space companies once it has been reasonably ensured that the issue of preventing or retrieving space debris is also being addressed.” This must be regulated in what are known as national space laws.

Physicist Frank Koch, who oversees the artificial lunar landscape in Rostock-Laage, could, for his part, envisage a recycling facility for satellites being set up on the Moon.

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Internet on the Moon soon too

Silicon, gold or platinum are thought to be present on the Moon. There is a lot at stake: the Moon as a source of raw materials, as a waystation on the journey to Mars – or as a recycling station. The journey from Earth to the Moon takes three days, and it is likely that a human will land on the Moon again in two years’ time.

There could be an internet connection on the Moon before the end of this year. NASA and Nokia are planning to set up a 4G network on the Moon. This would allow lunar rovers to connect with one another, send images back to Earth in real time, or enable people on the Moon to ring home.

Article by Anke Burmeister
RBB24 Beitrag