ESA is now training astronauts in identifying planetary geological features for future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids. This Pangaea course – named after the ancient supercontinent – will help astronauts to find interesting rock samples as well as to assess the most likely places to find traces of life on other planets.

This video introduces the course through interviews with the instructors and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano held during Pangaea’s first session in Bressanone, Italy, September 2016.

More about Pangaea:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Caves/Astronaut_geological_field_training_on_a_Mars_analogue