European Space Agency AI maps thousands of lunar craters for safe landings

An artificial intelligence model developed by the European Space Agency has automatically mapped thousands of potential craters on the surface of the Moon, ESA Exploration reported. The technology aims to identify safe touchdown zones in hazardous terrain across the lunar landscape. [1]

According to ESA Exploration, the uncrewed NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been scanning the Moon since 2009 and producing millions of images. Relying on humans to identify craters manually in these images takes far too long, making automated systems necessary for future mission planning. [1]

In a sample image released by the agency, the artificial intelligence model detected 3192 potential craters within a patch measuring 1.25 by 1.27 kilometres. The analyzed area is located near 44.12 degrees North, 307.80 degrees East on the lunar surface. [1]

ESA Exploration reported that the detected features range from roughly 6 to 180 metres across. To successfully recognize craters in orbit data, the artificial intelligence system requires trustworthy training datasets. [1]