It provides foundational knowledge and skills primarily in field geology to prepare astronauts for advanced mission-specific training for Moon and Mars missions.
Here, PANGAEA instructors use the crater to teach trainees about the rocks and minerals created by such impacts (e.g., shocked quartz), and the large-scale structure of such locations.
In this location, astronauts have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge on intrusive rocks with a special focus on the evolution of the primary crust and mantle of the Moon.
An example of this is the Electronic Field Book (EFB), which supports the course’s core training activities whilst being developed for use in future planetary exploration.
The EFB also integrates a mineral recognition system developed within the PANGAEA team for the automatic interpretation of results from portable spectrometers in real-time using machine learning techniques[12] and bespoke databases[13] to provide enhanced decision-support.
Some of the main categories of technology tested during PANAGAEA-X are listed below:[13][18][19][20][21][22] PANGAEA has trained astronauts and cosmonauts from ESA, NASA, JAXA, and Roscosmos, including several from the Artemis Team.