In September 2021, a team from Western University, led by Dr. Gordon Osinski, travelled to Mistastin Lake located in Newfound & Labrador to conduct new lunar analogue geologic field work and two train two astronauts: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic.
Mistastin Lake is a 28-km complex impact structure that formed ~37 million years ago. It was selected by Dr. Gordon Osinski for astronaut training because the landscape and geology of the impact structure resembles that of impact craters on the surface of the Moon. Gordon and his team, will train the astronauts in sampling, data collection, and honing their tool proficiency and expeditionary skills in preparation for their future lunar space missions in the mid to late 2020’s.
Joining the Western team is Dr. Cassandra Marion, who is a former Western University PhD student and now science advisor at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.
To learn more about the Mistastin deployment, check out this article and follow the team members Twitter accounts.
Western Team
– Dr. Gordon Osinski, @drcrater
– Dr. Gavin Tolometti, @GavinOnTheMoon
– Neeraja Chinchalkar, @neerajac1412
– Juan Pablo Jaimes, @thejuanpablo21
Canada Aviation and Space Museum
– Dr. Cassandra Marion, @planetarycass
Astronauts
– CSA Joshua Kutryk, @Astro_Kutryk
– NASA Matthew Dominick, @dominickmatthew