Back to the Future - Basic Training

Scientific questions will be addressed and resources assessed through both human and robotic exploration – essential and complementary strategies. Satellite imaging, robotic reconnaissance, examination of lander/rover-acquired samples, and base-map construction precede the arrival of humans at an exploration site. Field exploration is learned in the field – newly recruited astronauts currently spend a week in northern New Mexico learning basic field techniques. Initial exercises emphasize the tectonic, geomorphic, igneous, and sedimentary processes and products that will be investigated on the ground. On the rocks, briefings include an aerial stereophoto exercise (tied to specific terrain types that have been/will be visited in the field), fundamentals of petrology (sampling, description, physical properties, basic chemistry, modes of origin), and tutorials in geomorphology (rift faults and basins, volcanoes, fluvial versus glacial valleys, deltas).

Rift faults and volcanic vents commonly host hot springs and, over billions of years of Earth history, travertines have preserved evidence of life. Elsewhere in the solar system such deposits constitute key astrobiological targets as possible habitats for early life forms; thus, sampling and investigation of actively accumulating and older travertines in the Rio Grande rift now receive increased emphasis. In 1999 NASA began instruction in field geophysical methods, and astronaut teams have now acquired ~40 km of high-quality gravity data and 6 km of magnetic data, in the course of a planetary exploration simulation. In addition to teaching methods for subsurface scientific investigation, both the gravimetric and the magnetic surveys were executed to help delineate buried structures that influence ground-water flow and accumulation in the arid Taos valley. Participants learned techniques with direct relevance for lunar exploration, from data acquisition through interpretation and planning future traverses, incorporating data from prior surveys.