Run a Lunar Mission Together: An Open-Source Hands-On Session at IAC 2026
October 7 @ 18:30 – 20:00
Join the LunCo team for a hands-on lunar surface operations session held alongside the 77th International Astronautical Congress. Participants take on roles in a cooperative mission near Shackleton crater — driving rovers, managing power and communications, coordinating with a lander — inside a single shared scene running live on the laptops in the room.
The software is LunCoSim, an open-source (Apache-2.0) simulation environment for space mission engineering. It is free to download, runs on an ordinary laptop, and needs no account or licence — so everyone who takes part can keep using it afterwards, at their university, in their research group, or on their own.
Programme (90 minutes):
A short introduction to the simulator — 10 minutes
The group mission: cooperative lunar surface operations, roles assigned on the spot — 45 minutes
Open debrief: what worked, what didn’t, and what open lunar tooling still needs — 15 minutes
No prior experience with LunCoSim, or with simulation software in general, is required. Students, researchers, engineers, architects and educators are all welcome. Bring a laptop if you have one..
Free to attend. Registration and updates via the event link.
This session is organised independently by LunCo and is not part of the official IAC programme. The exact venue in Belek is confirmed one week in advance and shared with everyone who has registered.
