Little Moon City Prague (LMCP) provides facilities for experiments conducted in isolation and simulated missions taking place in space or other extremely demanding conditions. It includes the Hydronaut H03DeepLab habitat, designed for long-term stays of crews under water, which mimics the environment of a transport spacecraft. In addition, there is a ground control center for contact and observation of crews and space for extravehicular activities (EVA), i.e., activities that take place in space outside the spacecraft. These include, for example, simulations of the surface of the Moon. As stated by LMCP Director Jiří Schneider, the training center was officially opened by Italian ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli together with Matyáš Šanda, designer of the Hydronaut H03DeepLab habitat. Another Italian ESA astronaut, Roberto Vittori, tested his own project here, and the LMCP also featured at the beginning of the Czech Journey to Space mission, i.e., the planned Czech expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), which was launched by Aleš Svoboda, among others.
In addition to commercial use, the facility is used for study and scientific purposes, specifically for diploma and dissertation theses or, for example, the project "Development of a platform for maintaining and monitoring physical condition in isolated, closed, and extreme environments". CTU Rector Prof. Michal Pěchouček comments: "Scientific knowledge is like a pyramid. Great discoveries grow out of other great ideas. Projects like Little Moon City are important because they promote interdisciplinarity, which connects these discoveries. The result is excellent basic research, which is essential. Without it, there would be no applications or scientific discoveries that improve people's lives and influence society as a whole."
After touring Little Moon City Prague, President Petr Pavel briefly discussed with representatives of this training center and also with representatives of the Czech Technical University. The main topic of the debate was the construction of an underground space for simulating longer stays below the surface of the planet, similar to what is expected during possible missions to the Moon or Mars.
Photo by: Anna Šolcová
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)