Diamond Member SpaceMan 0 Posted September 13 Diamond Member Share Posted September 13 4 Min Read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training Credits: NASA/Trevor Graff/Robert Markowitz ****** and gray sediment stretches as far as the eye can see. Boulders sit on top of ground devoid of vegetation. Humans appear almost miniature in scale against a swath of shadowy mountains. At first glance, it seems a perfect scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface … except the people are in hiking gear, not spacesuits. Iceland has served as a lunar stand-in for training NASA astronauts since the days of the Apollo missions, and this summer the Artemis II crew took its place in that long history. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, along with their backups, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons, joined geology experts for field training on the Nordic island. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch stands in the desolate landscape of Iceland during a geology field training course. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA/Robert Markowitz “Apollo astronauts said Iceland was one of the most lunar-like training locations that they went to in their training,” said Cindy Evans, Artemis geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “It has lunar-like planetary processes – in this case, volcanism. It has the landscape; it looks like the Moon. And it has the scale of features astronauts will both be observing and exploring on the Moon.” Iceland’s geology, like the Moon’s, includes rocks called basalts and breccias. Basalts are dark, fine-grained, iron-rich rocks that form when volcanic magma cools and crystalizes quickly. In Iceland, basalt lavas form from volcanoes and deep fissures. On the Moon, basalts can form from both volcanoes and lava pooling in impact basins. Breccias are angular fragments of rock that are fused together to create new rocks. In Iceland, volcanic breccias are formed from explosive volcanic eruptions and on the Moon, impact breccias are formed from meteoroids impacting the lunar surface. Apollo astronauts said Iceland was one of the most lunar-like training locations that they went to in their training. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> Cindy Evans Artemis Geology Training Lead Along with exploring the geology of Iceland, the astronauts practiced navigation and This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up to prepare them for living and working together, and gave feedback to instructors, who used this as an opportunity to hone their instruction and identify sites for future Artemis crew training. They also put This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up , learning to use hammers, scoops, and chisels to collect rock samples. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Caption: The Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and ********* Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and backup crew members NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons trek across the Icelandic landscape during their field geology training. NASA/Robert Markowitz “The tools we used during the Apollo missions haven’t changed that much for what we’re planning for the Artemis missions,” said Trevor Graff, exploration geologist and the hardware and testing lead on the Artemis science team at NASA Johnson. “Traditionally, a This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up with just standard tool sets of things like rock hammers and scoops or shovels to sample the world around them, both on the surface and subsurface.” The Artemis tools have a bit of a twist from traditional terrestrial geology tools, though. Engineers must take into consideration limited mass availability during launch, how easy it is to use a tool while wearing pressurized gloves, and how to ensure the pristine nature of the lunar samples is preserved for study back on Earth. There’s really transformational science that we can learn by getting boots back on the Moon, getting samples back, and being able to do field geology with trained astronauts on the surface. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> Angela Garcia Exploration Geologist and Artemis II Science Officer This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Caption: Angela Garcia, Artemis II science officer and exploration geologist, demonstrates how to use a rock hammer and chisel to dislodge a rock sample from a large boulder during the Artemis II field geology training in Iceland. NASA/Robert Markowitz “There’s really transformational science that we can learn by getting boots back on the Moon, getting samples back, and being able to do field geology with trained astronauts on the surface,” said Angela Garcia, exploration geologist and an Artemis II science officer at NASA Johnson. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under Artemis and will pave the way to land the first woman, first person of ******, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon on future missions. The crew will travel approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. While the Artemis II astronauts will not land on the surface of the Moon, the geology fundamentals they develop during field training will be critical to meeting the science objectives of their mission. These objectives include visually studying a list of surface features, such as craters, from orbit. Astronauts will snap photos of the features, and describe their ******, reflectivity, and texture — details that can reveal their geologic history. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up The Artemis II crew astronauts, their backups, and the geology training field team pose in a valley in Iceland’s Vatnajökull national park. From front left: Angela Garcia, Jacob Richardson, Cindy Evans, Jenni Gibbons, Jacki Mahaffey, back row from left: Jeremy Hansen, John Ramsey, Reid Wiseman, Ron Spencer, Scott Wray, Kelsey Young, Patrick Whelley, Christina Koch, Andre Douglas, Jacki Kagey, Victor Glover, Rick Rochelle (NOLS), Trevor Graff. “Having humans hold the camera during a lunar pass and describe what they’re seeing in language that scientists can understand is a boon for science,” said Kelsey Young, lunar science lead for Artemis II and Artemis II science officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “In large part, that’s what we’re training astronauts to do when we take them to these Moon-like environments on Earth.” Read More Share Details Last Updated Sep 13, 2024 Related Terms This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Explore More This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> 2 min read Hubble Examines a Spiral Star Factory Article 6 hours ago This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> 5 min read NASA’s Webb Peers into the Extreme Outer Galaxy Article 1 day ago This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> 23 min read The Next Full Moon is a Partial Lunar Eclipse; a Supermoon; the Corn Moon; and the Harvest Moon The next full Moon will be Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 10:35 PM EDT. The… Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Astromaterials This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> Humans In Space This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> Our Solar System This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> Artemis Science A Time Capsule The Moon is a 4.5-billion-year-old time capsule, pristinely preserved by the cold vacuum of space. It is… This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up /applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"> This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Link to comment https://hopzone.eu/forums/topic/125314-nasa-nasa%E2%80%99s-artemis-ii-crew-uses-iceland-terrain-for-lunar-training/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
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