The European Space Agency returned to Lanzarote last week to continue working with their Pangaea training course, which provides experience in collecting rock samples and traces of life on other planets.
Photo: ESA.
The ESA first came to Lanzarote in 2017, and having since made an agreement with local authorities they are able to use the island as a training location until 2022.
Lanzarote truly is other-worldy, as ESA use Lanzarote as a destination for its Pangaea training course, which provides the best and closest example of examining rock samples and traces of life on other planets.
In a 2019 release, Pangaea project leader Lordena Bessone explained “We are delighted to say that the island remains the natural scenario of the Pangaea project. This is the most realistic way that we have to prepare ourselves to travel to space.”.
The Professor of planetary geochemistry at the Geosciences Institute of Spain, Jesús Martínez-Frías added “The Canary Islands are pearls in the middle of the Atlantic for planetary studies, and Lanzarote is the perfect environment to improve the efficiency of future expeditions to the Moon and Mars.”.
The European Space Agency have trained many times before in Lanzarote, from 2017 until present.
In the most recent visit, Bessona thanks Geoparque Lanzarote for its collaboration with ESA and stated “This is a fantastic place.”.
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