The team packed up the truck and departed the Media Lab for the airport on Saturday afternoon.  Flying through Madrid, we arrived in Lanzarote at 10:30 am local time on Sunday morning.  Driving through the volcano-speckled island we felt immediately immersed in the Lunar-like landscape.  With very little vegetation and basalt covering the terrain, we had no trouble imagining the local rock dry-stack walls and volcanic rock roads as possible architectures for a Lunar station.  

Arriving at our home for the week, we were delighted by the architecture that weaves the building seamlessly into the surroundings.  We are located at the base of La Corona volcano, the origin of the lava tube that we will be studying.  

Embracing the local culture, we also got to collect eggs from the on-site chickens.

As our first activity, the team unpacked the hardware and checked that nothing was damaged during flight and that all of the electronics were still working as expected.  Next, everything was plugged in! Time to charge up for the field.  This was important to do well in advance as we are powered entirely by solar electricity and need to anticipate power restrictions. 

Next up, the team took charge of their field gear, including field notebooks, hand lenses, maps and headlamps.  Each team member also prepared a short field school presentation about local geology, which included studying their assigned site and preparing a map for their location.  Part of the evening's activities were to review proper field notebook procedure and to review the field school maps. 

After a long day of travel and prep, we were joined by Dava Newman and Gui Trotti, special guests on our field expedition, for a homemade dinner by Maggie of local fare.

This field research was made possible, in part, by MIT Media Lab member company, Castrol.