Chain work at the lava tube

An expedition of astronauts, planetary scientists and engineers collect samples in a lava tube in Lanzarote, Spain.

Like on Mars and on the Moon, some of the caves are large enough to accommodate streets. Being underground structures, they are good shelters from radiation. They may contain subsurface water, and therefore be interesting in the search of extraterrestrial microbial life.

Pangaea-X is a test campaign that brings together geology, high-tech survey equipment and space exploration. For five days in November 2017, the course mobilised 50 people, four space agencies and 18 organisations in five different locations.