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The significance of analog studies using lava tubes on Earth to inform on the design of future lunar and Martian missions is aimed at exploring and utilising those structures as potential habitats on those planetary bodies. Lava tubes, natural subsurface cavities formed by volcanic activity, have several characteristics that make them appealing for human habitation on the Moon and Mars. Researchers conducting analog studies on Earth can gain valuable insights into the geological, environmental, engineering, crew a...

Volcanic sites on Earth provide valuable insights into the geological processes that shape our planet and can also serve as effective analogs for studying similar volcanic activity on other celestial bodies, such as the Moon. This work aims to discuss the general characterization of the Capelinhos volcanic site, in the archipelago of Azores in Portugal, showing the potential as a planetary analog. It-s barren landscape, covered with pyroclastic rocks can lend itself the purpose of becoming a lunar planetary analog...

The MiFiRE (Microgravity Fine Regolith Experiment) experiment, which will be launched this year on a suborbital space flight, currently scheduled for August 2023, was designed with the aim of better understanding the initial stages of planetary formation. The fundamental and embryonic question is to contribute to the study of how the mineral and rock particles, which do not have enough mass for the gravitational force to be influential, can then aggregate through electrostatic forces. In order to recreate the envi...