ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen (back) and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi study samples from the CAVES 2012 training course.

CAVES, an abbreviation of Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills, prepares astronauts to work safely and effectively and solve problems as a multicultural team while exploring uncharted areas using space procedures.

Part of the course involved searching and comparing underground life.

The microscopes were supplied by Paolo Marcia, biological sampling programme developer from the University of Sassari, Italy.