Geological training for astronauts

As part of an ESA geological training program, astronauts have also visited the Ries Crater and the Ries Crater Museum in recent years.

A scientific publication about the training program was published at the beginning of the year – a summary of the article is now available in five languages. The english version can be read here.

Astronauts become moon explorers

ESA’s geology training course PANGAEA has come of age with the publication of a paper. It describes the search for the best possible geology training for the future astronauts who will walk on the surface of the moon.

Since 2016, PANGAEA has trained ten astronauts from three space agencies with the basic knowledge and skills in field geology required for lunar exploration.

Humans are returning to the Moon, and soon astronauts on Artemis missions will participate in the planning and execution of geological expeditions on the lunar surface.

“Now that we have five editions of the course behind us, this is the right time to share our experience with the wider space exploration community,” explains Samuel Payler, PANGAEA’s Training Coordinator.

Future lunar astronauts will be in a privileged position to explore the lunar surface, but they will also feel the pressure of needing to make quick and informed scientific decisions.

“We hope that this publication can also be useful for other space agencies involved in training for future planetary missions and encourage further international collaboration,” adds Samuel.

The motivation of astronauts

The publication describes the approaches used by the team to train astronauts to explore the lunar surface.

“In our experience, astronauts perform best when they are given a reasonable degree of autonomy. We encourage astronauts to value real exploration,” explains planetary geologist and PANGAEA instructor Matteo Massironi.

As PANGAEA progresses, the training becomes more complex and the astronauts have to face challenges in real environments. As the participants progress, there is a change in perspective – they find the inspiration to make scientific discoveries.

“We don’t want them to behave like robots, we want them to become the most efficient field researchers. We train them to lead the exploration and make decisions with the support of a remote science team,” he adds.

The legacy of Apollo

An important cornerstone for the development of PANGAEA was looking back at the training conducted during the Apollo era. Although almost 50 years have passed since the end of Apollo, it is still the only example of a space program where geological training was critical to the success of the mission.

“Train them, trust them and set them free” was the motto of mission-oriented training during the last three Apollo missions – the most productive in terms of scientific discovery. The European PANGAEA training builds on the legacy of the Apollo program.

After the initial classroom sessions, the team of instructors, which includes some of Europe’s top planetary geologists, gradually gives astronauts more time for independent exploration.

The geology training takes them to the Italian Dolomite Mountains, known for their pristine sedimentary layers, the Ries impact crater in Germany, the Spanish volcanic island of Lanzarote and the Norwegian fjords of Lofoten to learn about rocks similar to those of the lunar highlands.

The similarity between these European locations and the geology of the moon and Mars gives the exploration a realistic dimension.

Improvements for exploration

Although PANGAEA is inspired by the legacy of the Apollo era, it brings together many of the technological and scientific advances that have been made since the 1970s.

“We are making it more applicable to the modern scenario by combining all the knowledge we have gained about the Moon with new technologies that can support and improve field geology,” explains Francesco Sauro, Course Director of PANGAEA.

In 2017, the team began developing a new system to record, structure and make available the information collected in the field, including images, data from analysis tools, 3D maps and audio notes. The result of this development is the Electronic Field Book, a unique tool that has increased the efficiency of sampling.

The future is today

Even though PANGAEA is not a training course for specific missions, it will be updated to remain relevant for current exploration scenarios. “We will adapt to any future development in space exploration,” says Francesco.

“We want to provide astronauts with useful training in preparation for NASA’s mission-specific training ahead of Artemis,” he adds.

The team would like to pass on the experience they have gained over the years. “The course has now reached a level of maturity where we believe we can contribute something valuable to the planetary science community and future astronauts,” says Francesco.

The recently published paper is available here.

Follow the latest news about the PANGAEA training on X, read all about it on the ESA Blog and watch their steps with our Flickr gallery.

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