# @nasaartemis on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CoXixzaOVl-
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/15341117-nasaartemis-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/f04e36fc54.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-02-07T16:27:40.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA Artemis (@nasaartemis) — https://gondola.cc/nasaartemis

## Caption

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 it was formed. 

The Lunar Lab and Regolith Testbed currently houses two large indoor “sandboxes” filled with tons of simulated lunar dust. With both testbeds, most areas on the Moon can be simulated with a high degree of accuracy. NASA’s new Moon rover, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) team uses the Regolith Testbed to test how well the rover’s lighting systems and hazard avoidance cameras handle the very low-angle illumination it will experience while mapping the Moon’s South Pole.

Image Description: the VIPER team tests out lighting systems for the rover with a very low-angle illumination simulating the Sun in the Regolith Testbeds at NASA's Ames Research Center. The lighting reflects off the simulated lunar dust in the testbed in shades of cobalt blue. Two men can be seen in the background adjusting the lights pointed at the simulated lunar dust. 

Credit: NASA/Dominic Hart

#Sandbox #Artemis #LunarMission #LunarSouthPole #NASAAmes #STEM #MoonRover

## Stats

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## Tags

moonrover, lunarsouthpole, stem, lunarmission, artemis, nasaames, sandbox

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