One geology step closer to the Moon
As Europe prepares to return to the Moon, ESA's PANGAEA astronaut geology training celebrates its 10th anniversary by turning extraordinary places on Earth into classrooms for space exploration. The 10th edition included ESA astronaut Pablo Álvarez Fernández, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and Kimiya Yui from the Japanese space agency. The astronauts learned to identify Moon and Mars rocks, interpret their origin and understand the history behind them, embarking on a science journey that grew in complexity as the crew faced exploration challenges in real environments.
Over three intensive weeks, the training took the astronauts from theory-packed lessons to the wild outdoors across Europe, including the Bletterbach canyon in Italy, the Ries crater in Germany and the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote in Spain. This edition was dedicated to Riccardo Pozzobon, a PANGAEA instructor who passed away one year ago while taking part in a scientific expedition in Alaska.
According to PANGAEA project lead Loredana Bessone, this year covered a full working cycle, from training individual skills to a deliberate transition to crew operations. Before heading into the field, the astronauts had to make a plan with the scientists, and afterwards they reviewed the geological results together. Space explorers must do more than recognise an interesting rock: they need to agree on priorities, divide tasks and communicate with the ground, adapting their exploration as the terrain challenges their plans. The course gave Pablo, Jasmin and Kimiya the knowledge, practice and growing independence to make decisions together.
On the Moon, every second will be precious and every rock will count, with limited time to recognise why a lunar sample matters and explain it to scientists on Earth. PANGAEA deputy project lead Samuel Payler says the programme trains astronauts for future missions on the lunar surface and has grown from a new astronaut geology course into a programme combining planetary science, field geology, real exploration and crew operations. PANGAEA instructor Katherine Joy, professor of lunar and planetary science at the University of Manchester, adds that every piece of the Moon we can lay our eyes and hands on is a time capsule and a treasure trove of the history of our Solar System — they are not just rocks, and every sample is critical to completing the puzzle.
PANGAEA is currently part of the training prerequisites for Artemis Moon missions. Since 2016, the programme has provided 19 astronauts from four space agencies with a comprehensive set of geology skills and lunar lessons. In the field and in the classroom, astronauts learned to interpret the terrain they explored, document their findings and work in coordination.