From Mercury to Mars, through the Moon, the job of a geologist is not limited to planet Earth. The instruments provided by Geology can be applied also to other planetary bodies of our Solar System, with outstanding results mainly in the field of space exploration. Geological maps are an example of this, since they allow the representation through different colours and symbols of the rocks, geological materials and structures that make up the surface of a planet.

And this is exactly the main aim of PLANMAP, a European project that began in 2018. Coordinated by Matteo Massironi, Associate Professor of Structural Geology at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua, PLANMAP involved geologists and astronomers from various Italian and European institutions in the creation of geological maps and 3D images, to visualize in virtual reality the surfaces of different planetary bodies.

To this project, PLaNCK!, the popular bilingual science magazine designed to bring girls and boys closer to science through comics, dedicated a special issue, which is here described by Prof. Massironi:

Are you an elementary or middle school teacher? Write to comunicazione.geoscienze@unipd.it to ask for a free paper copy of the special issue of PLaNCK! (the special issue is in English).

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 776276