KSat Stuttgart e.V.

CASIMAR’s first trip to the LUNA-Facility

From the 10th to the 12th of September 2025, a CASIMAR team of 10 university students had the opportunity to conduct the first student-organized experimental campaign at the LUNA facility. Over the course of three days, two sample-collecting tools developed by the KSat team, as well as two further experiments from BEARS e.V. and MoonAixperts e.V., were tested in a total of three simulated moonwalks. In the first run, a member of KSat took on the role of an astronaut to carry out the carefully prepared student-designed EVA procedure. In the second run, this procedure was performed by ESA staff wearing ATLAS lunar analog suits. In both cases, the use of our tools went exceptionally well. Besides the tool tests, a primary objective of the campaign was to familiarise student team members with the preparation and ex*****on of such a campaign, so that we can carry out similar campaigns more frequently and more easily in the future. The next CASIMAR campaign in the LUNA Analog Facility will hopefully take place in late 2026/early 2027. Preparation for such a potential second campaign has already begun.

This campaign would not have been possible without the support of DLR and ESA. We are very happy that we, the student spaceflight community of Germany, can contribute to getting the LUNA Analog Facility up and running! 

More about the campaign can be read here:

[Mission Moon: CASIMAR campaign tests astronaut tools at the LUNA Analog Facility - Luna Analog Facility](https://luna-analog-facility.de/en/mission-moon-casimar-campaign-tests-astronaut-tools-at-the-luna-analog-facility/)

The LUNA Analog Facility is supported by the “Landesregierung Nordrhein-Westphalen”.