Not your average sandbox. For years, research scientists and engineers have used the Lunar Lab and Regolith Testbed at NASAAmes Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley to study how well scientific instruments, robots, and people might be able to safely traverse the tough lunar terrain. When rovers and astronauts carry out missions at the lunar South Pole, they’ll have to navigate in low-angle lighting and overcome harsh solar glare that makes it difficult to see. Because the Sun will never rise overhead, even the smallest rock or crater will cast long shadows and cloak craters in darkness. And, at times, the Sun will blaze at eye-level as it reflects off the soil. Future human and robotic explorers of off-planet polar regions also will need to contend with the incredibly abrasive and “sticky” lunar dust, known as regolith. Moon dust has grains as fine as powder, as sharp as tiny shards of glass, and a curious capacity to electrostatically cling to everything, due to the way ...