Harsh Shadows at Lunar Poles Provoke Special Astronaut Training for Artemis III
Astronauts train at NASA Marshall in Huntsville AL on its 26m x 13m black epoxy floor, with 12kW and 6kW lights shining to simulate low-angle, high-contrast visual conditions at Moon South Pole where Artemis III astronauts will land; test engineer Emma Jaynes says “The color white can become blinding … shadows behind a lander could extend for miles”; called the world’s flattest floor, large items such as lander and rock mock-ups, and huge cloths to imitate regolith, can be moved easily across the floor on tiny air jets as in an air hockey game, simulating microgravity