Cindy Evans, Artemis lead for geology training, and Juliane Gross, Artemis sample curation lead, joined the PANGAEA training in the Lofoten islands, Norway, in july 2025.

From microscopic cosmic dust particles to Apollo-era Moon rocks, these geology nerds take extra care in how samples are handled, documented and stored. They lead geology training and sample curation for Artemis III, the next mission to return humans to the Moon.

Here is what Cindy and Juliane told us after exploring with the PANGAEA crew one of the few locations in the world that shares geological features with the lunar highlands.

Cindy and Juliane shared the thrill of getting closer to lunar geology alongside a team of astronauts and European planetary scientists. ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA’s Jessica Wittner and member of the ESA Astronaut Reserve Arnaud Prost were the trainees taking part in the geology campaign in Norway.

ESA’s PANGAEA course has provided astronauts with Earth and planetary geology knowledge since 2016. The course has trained 16 astronauts from four space agencies to become effective partners for scientists and engineers in designing and executing future exploration missions.

Read more about their field experience on ESA’s PANGAEA blog.