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About

Jo De Waele is a leading figure in planetary cave exploration and astronaut training, whose work bridges Earth-based speleology with the future of human spaceflight. His research focuses on the identification, characterization, and utilization of subsurface voids—such as lava tubes and cave systems—on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. De Waele’s major contributions include spearheading the international community’s push to establish a scientific and engineering roadmap for planetary cave exploration, as outlined in his highly cited 2022 paper on fundamental science questions (38 citations). He has also been instrumental in defining the cross-disciplinary requirements—spanning geology, astrobiology, and robotics—needed to explore these extreme environments. Notably, De Waele leads the European Space Agency’s CAVES training program, which prepares astronauts for the challenges of extraterrestrial exploration by simulating cave missions on Earth. This work, recognized in his 2013 paper (5 citations), has become a cornerstone of analog astronaut training. With a career that connects terrestrial cave science to the next frontier of human exploration, De Waele’s impact is shaping how we will one day live and work beneath other worlds.