GEOLOGY ROCKS
PANGAEA-X, LANZAROTE, CANARY ISLANDS
Before you can find signs of life, you have to
learn how to look for it. And that’s one of the
key things that the European Space Agency’s
Pangaea-X test campaign – essentially a geology
field trip – teaches astronauts.
Lanzarote, off the northwest coast of Africa, is
an ideal site because the basalts and minerals in
the rocks allow it to serve as a stand-in for both
the Moon and Mars. While they’re on the island,
astronauts learn how to identify suitable sites for
sampling, test out sampling techniques, and deal
with the practicalities of off-world exploration,
such as the communications delay with
mission control.
The white probe being used in the foreground
of this picture is a microscope that transmits
images to the astronaut’s chest-mounted tablet.
The tablet, or ‘Electronic Field Book’, documents
the images and makes them available to the
science operations team back at base, who can
then advise on any further samples that may be
required.
The project is already proving to be something
of a success – the astronauts on 2017’s Pangaea-X
campaign discovered previously unidentified
water-related minerals in Lanzarote’s rocks,
which could contain clues to the past and future
habitability of other planets.