Field geophysical training of astronauts in the Taos region

Astronaut teams acquired ~16 km of gravity data during a planetary exploration simulation conducted in the vicinity of Taos, New Mexico. In the course of the investigation, a previously unsuspected fault – the Pingüino fault – with hundreds of meters of displacement was discovered. The gravimetric survey (summer, 1999) was the first phase of a geophysical assessment of the ground-water resources around Taos, an area of rapid population growth, and it was executed to help delineate buried structures that significantly influence ground-water flow and accumulation in the valley. Participants in the investigation learned a technique with direct relevance for lunar and planetary exploration and acquired data that were incorporated into subsurface geological and hydrological models of Taos valley.