In 1969, astronauts first set foot on the Moon. Half a century later, scientists are preparing for the next mission - and it takes place in a place that is rather difficult to imagine: a Spanish island.
Once a week around 9pm, with millions of stars guiding them, Raúl Martínez Morales and Amanda Mandry observe planet Mars. A former astrophysicist, the first, a lover of the sky the second, carefully take out their scientific equipment before crossing the "sea" of solid lava and reaching the eerie landscape of red sand dunes.
Some nights, they set up their makeshift but adequate "workshop" next to a giant "lava stream", other times in a crater so large that a spaceship could land inside. The dark celestial dome sometimes holds unforgettable surprises, a meteor shower or a star they had never noticed before.
"I was always fascinated by the planets of the other unknown world," Morales told the BBC, admiring the wild beauty around him. "Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the moon - everything fascinates me."
The scenery is really eerie but the scientific team is not on the surface of the Red Planet. Even when everything looks like it really is on Mars. They are actually a huge distance from this planet, here on Earth. In the Los Volcanes National Park, in the Lanzarote of the Canary Islands, in Spain.
"It's really impressive," comments Mandry, who "runs" with Morales to the Kosmos planetarium on the island. "Practically, the area here is more reminiscent of space than any other place on Earth. In fact, there are caves here that are reminiscent of those found on the Moon and Mars. "
Recognized since 1993 as the "Conserved Ecosystem of the World Biosphere" by Unesco, the Lantharote has striking geological similarities with the Moon and Mars. So impressive that it has evolved into one of the most important research centers in the world on space exploration.
Both NASA and the European Space Agency are using the area to train astronauts and test special remote-controlled vehicles. Scientists are simulating the soil of other planets and preparing space travelers for their next adventures away from Earth.
Half a century after the first astronaut mission to the Moon, the goal is for man to set foot on the moon again by 2024 and then become the first manned mission to Mars.
And here comes Lanzarote. This island sometimes seems to defy the laws of physics and geography.
In a period of six years, from 1730 to 1736, the island did not cease to be shaken by multiple volcanic eruptions. The craters near the Montañas del Fuego Mountains in Timanfaya National Park did not stop spewing ash, covering a quarter of the island with ash and various materials from the bowels of the Earth.
After the eruptions, the earth did not die but was reborn. Los Volcanes National Park and the adjacent Timanfaya National Park are famous for their terrain and overall alien landscape. The eye stands on more than a hundred volcanic cones, petrified magma meadows, solidified lava streams and colored sand that cover the 172 square kilometers of this bizarre corner of the Earth. The image is reminiscent of an alien desert while the coast has an equally wildly eerie face, the one created by the hot lava freezing abruptly in contact with the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the people involved in trying to bring future missions one step closer, using Lanzarote, is the veteran Mars project Loredana Bessone. Among its many responsibilities, from training astronauts to supervising mission simulations that control human-robot interaction, is its "Pangaea" program. European Space Agency. The first step in preparing astronauts before they explore missions to other planets.
"In short, Lanzarote has many realistic landscapes reminiscent of the moon and Mars," he explains. "It's easy to teach astronauts specific actions and energies but it's hard to equip them to become field scientists. The Pangaea program helps astronauts, whatever their background, become effective geologists in the field. But it also helps geo-microbiologists. And the results are multiple: astronauts are learning to work as geologists, scientists are doing research, and everyone is learning to work more functionally. "
The Pangaea program has not stopped expanding since its debut in 2016. In 2018, during the 10th training season, European Space Agency astronauts tested a rover on the ground of Lanzarote, flew swarms of drones and remotely guided a rover to an inaccessible and complex lava stream, six kilometers long, created by a volcanic eruption 21.000 years ago.
In addition, several experiments were performed by 50 scientists from four space services at five different locations in one week. "Walking" in space was something regular. In-situ DNA analyzes of microorganisms were also performed. The interior of the island was turned into a sci-fi movie set. Among the scenarios envisaged by the program was the collection of soil samples and the supervision of a rover, which was handled by Hamburg.
People living in the eerie landscape of Lanzarote are accustomed to such images. References to scientific instruments and geological terms are also commonplace. Not only instruments like those on display at the Timanfaya National Park Visitor Center, which were used by volcanologists to capture the island's landscape years ago, but also modern media such as XNUMXD mapping lasers and state-of-the-art scanners.
"These elements of the simulation can be used in an environment like Lanzarote, but it is impossible to imitate the realism of being in the real geological conditions of another planet," explains Bessone, who has trained winter crews at Concordia Station Antarctica, which is known as "White Mars". "There are many obstacles in space. The difficulty of the ground, the lighting conditions, communication issues, access issues. An outing into space is like ballet, it has to be completely choreographed and a lot of rehearsals have been done to be effective. "
