Japan astronaut applicants take final exam on mock lunar surface

Aspiring Japanese astronauts have taken their final exams on a mock lunar surface at a training facility near Tokyo, with the successful candidates to be revealed next month.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency opened the facility at its Sagamihara Campus in Kanagawa Prefecture to the press on Thursday. Footprints and rover tracks cover the 23-meter-long, 18-meter-wide space that simulates the powdery regolith on the lunar surface.Around 425 tons of fine sand has been used at the facility, which can artificially reproduce the light of the sun on the lunar surface.JAXA began accepting appl…READ FULL ARTICLE