IBM and NASA open-source lunar AI model to map Moon for Artemis missions
The NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model integrates decades of multi-sensor data to help astronauts navigate terrain, find water ice, and prepare for long-term lunar habitation.
What to know
- IBM and NASA have released the NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model, a multi-modal AI system that consolidates decades of lunar data to create the most comprehensive Moon map to date.
- The model addresses longstanding challenges in handling high-volume, multi-sensor data at varying scales, integrating observations from missions like GRAIL and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- NASA prioritizes three applications: mapping uncatalogued craters, investigating volcanic history, and locating water ice at the lunar poles to support Artemis missions and eventual Mars exploration.
- The model uses a version of TerraMind architecture to handle sharp lunar lighting contrasts and terrain obstacles that would complicate human astronaut navigation.
IBM AI model developer and co-creatorNASA Space agency partner and Artemis program leadJuan Bernabé-Moreno Director of IBM Research Europe for Ireland and UKEuropean Space Agency (ESA) Co-developer of TerraMind, the underlying architecture
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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NASA prioritizes three applications: crater mapping, volcanic analysis, and ice prospecting
NASA identifies three initial use cases for the Lunar Foundation Model: mapping smaller uncatalogued craters on the Moon's surface, investigating the Moon's volcanic history, and locating ice deposits in polar craters that could provide drinking water, oxygen, and fuel for future astronaut missions.
“We hope that our AI model can help the science community explore the lunar landscape and help the next generation of astronauts find their way around before heading into space.”
— Juan Bernabé-Moreno, Director of IBM Research Europe · source -
Will roughly crash landing scrap on the moon cause nearby cave systems to collapse, and where are the caves to shelter from meteorite bursts in?"Removing these 50 objects from orbit would cut danger from space junk in half" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45469259 :> When will it be safe and cost-efficient to - instead of deorbiting toward…
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This was pretty cool -- IBM and NASA have a new "multi-modal lunar model" that is a major improvement in our understanding of mapping the lunar surface, which will help significantly in future missions. Oh, and it's open sourced. :) https:// research.ibm.com/blog/nasa-ibm -lunar-foundation-model # space # AIforGood # AI
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did not know we have -246°c to play with, which means the potential for the whole set of usefull volitiles is there, not just water/O²/H², and given that there is also the potential for +121°c very close to cold deposits, gives most of the basics for refining a whole host of molecules and compounds. Non of that changing the fact that bieng on the…
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background
IBM and NASA open-source NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model — IBM and NASA publicly release a multi-modal AI model designed to map the Moon by consolidating and harmonizing decades of data from US and Japanese missions. The model is the first to integrate observations captured in multiple modalities at different viewing angles and spatial scales, built on a version of TerraMind, IBM's Earth-observation model developed with the European Space Agency.
What people are saying 11 voices from 1 site · best of 14 · verbatim
- Sep 16
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Well, we had people swing by the moon for the first in decades this April, with a robotic mission planned for November & about 7 more robotic missions planned for next year:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_the_Moon#F...I would argue that is something & that things are finally moving in the right direction for the Moon at a…
- Sep 15
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The show For All Mankind is a truly bittersweet look at how space exploration could have turned out differently.I’m sure the technical challenges are much greater than how they are portrayed in the show. But certainly there has been a lack of will and optimism and imagination as well.
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But we are going back to the moon. By 2030, I would bet, humans will land on the moon again. Probably Americans first, but if not, definitely Chinese.And this time, both countries are planning ambitious missions--not just flags-and-footprints, but bases and resource extraction (ice from the lunar south pole).SpaceX Starship, the vehicle that will…
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Tangentially related, these articles by Maciej Cegłowski:* The Lunacy of Artemis – https://idlewords.com/2024/5/the_lunacy_of_artemis.htm* Artemis II Is Not Safe to Fly –
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We may be approaching technologically to expanding into the universe but we are certainly not there spiritually. Not to say that we shouldn't pursue this, there are probably war races in space already, but it seems to me that a better path would be growing spiritually before we expand. I wouldn't like to be in a place where we have the technical…
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I'm not gonna lie, I'm closer to a conspiracy theorist and non-believer than I am to trust history on the moon landing stuff. Doesn't help that I wasn't alive when it happened, and that we haven't since gone again. It feels so nonsensical to me, I would love for someone to help me educate myself on it from a more grounded point of view that can…
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> endless money poured into innovationThe US put 5% of the federal budget into the original moon mission. NASA and SpaceX and the US Space Force combined don't spend anywhere close to that on R&D.
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Going to the moon is a publicity stunt. Been there done that. There are very few good arguments for putting anything on the moon, much less a human (which generally can do much less because all the life support needed can't be put into science). All the arguments for going to the moon need to be considered against everything else we can do -…
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The goal is entirely different.Apollo - Cold war. USA must do it before Russia and win the space race. Money is not a restriction. USA did it before Russia and won the space race.Artemis - Prove a multi-national program can function under financial, economic, political, and even technical restrictions. We can't simply land and observe, it needs to…
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I read this a bit fast and with half a brain (because I'm in a boring meeting), but I'm not sure what an "AI model" is over just a common or garden model.I get the achievement here: it's quite difficult to combine data from these various sensors into one. Is the "AI" bit referring to how that integration was done?
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It's hard not to see this as a consolation prize. In 1969, we went to the moon.In 2026, with all the benefits of a tech industry that has become ever more powerful, with endless money poured into innovation, our 'rough guide back to the moon' is an AI model that maps it. It's powerful and impressive, of course, and doubtless very useful to…