Norishige Kanai takes picture in lava tube

JAXA astronaut Norishige Kanai uses NASA's Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC) camera to photograph some deposits on a wall of the Corona lava tube in Lanzarote, Spain. Next to him, Jeremy Myers, NASA’s lead for the HULC camera, helps him with a flash prototype.

Engineers, scientists and astronauts tested the camera to improve the design of the camera that astronauts will use during the Artemis III mission on the lunar surface during PANGAEA.

ESA’s PANGAEA training course prepares astronauts and space engineers to identify planetary geological features for future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids.

The PANGAEA campaign – named after the ancient supercontinent – provides the crew with introductory and practical knowledge to find interesting rock samples as well as to assess the most likely places to find traces of life on other planets. Leading European planetary geologists share their insights into the geology of the Solar System.

Course participants of the seventh edition in 2024 are ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan, ESA member of the astronaut reserve Arnaud Prost and Norishige Kanai from the Japanese space agency, JAXA.

The theory part is followed by field trips to the Italian Dolomites, the Ries crater in Germany and the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote in Spain.

PANGAEA is the first step in preparing European astronauts to become planetary explorers on missions to other planets allowing them to communicate with science advisors on Earth effectively.