REMINDER/Media Advisory: Astronaut Jeremy Hansen Conducts Geology Field Training in the High Arctic

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Marketwired

Wed, Jul 24, 2013, 5:00 AM

LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Jul 24, 2013) - Since July 16, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen has been in the High Arctic to learn methods and techniques for conducting geological fieldwork that could be applied to future missions on the Moon or an asteroid.

Hansen is accompanying Western University's Dr. Osinski and his team from the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration as they study the Haughton impact crater on Devon Island. Located in Nunavut, Canada, this extremely remote and uninhabited island features one of the world's best exposed and preserved impact craters on Earth. Now in the midst of this ten-day excursion, Hansen has been assisting Dr. Osinski in studying impact cratering processes that can be applied to sites beyond our planet. The team is doing so with only a minimum of supplies and support, was dropped off by airplane and is isolated from civilization as they rely upon each other to fulfill their mission objectives.

In this video, Hansen explains why astronauts perform geology field training in remote areas and describes in greater detail the expedition to Devon Island.