Iceland won’t tell us everything about worlds beyond Earth, but it can teach us how to look.
This is the power of fieldwork, and what makes it irreplaceable. You can’t recreate this kind of science in a lab or from satellite images alone. You need teams willing to wrap instruments in sweaters, to get stuck in knee-deep clay, and to spot something unexpected that changes your whole mission plan. The cold shock of lake water, the acrid smell of sulfur, and the weight of equipment across miles of lava are all part of the process. As NASA moves forward with the exploration of the Moon, Mars, and worlds we’ve barely begun to understand, this collaborative, adaptable spirit is what transforms distant mysteries into discoveries.