Lunar Outpost and NVIDIA Expand Edge Computing for Moon Missions

Lunar Outpost and NVIDIA entered a collaboration to expand the use of NVIDIA technology across Lunar Outpost’s upcoming lunar missions. The effort centers on onboard data processing and related mission capabilities as Lunar Outpost grows its mission manifest.

NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform will be used to support onboard processing, lunar mapping, advanced autonomy, and communications across Lunar Outpost missions. The company’s plans include deploying NVIDIA capabilities starting with Lunar Voyage 2 and extending to later missions described as Lunar Voyage 3 and Lunar Voyage 5.

For Lunar Voyage 2, Lunar Outpost will use NVIDIA Jetson modules to command and control the rover’s LiDAR system. The processor will also handle post-processing of sensor data and compression of large files for downlink. The PR also describes future missions using NVIDIA high-performance, energy efficient edge AI, including the space-qualified NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin Module, for real-time sensor ingestion, terrain maps, autonomous path planning, and processing, along with real-time video streaming.

In the collaboration, NVIDIA said it provides access through the NVIDIA Inception Program, described as offering hardware access and technical support to startups building at the edge of what’s possible. Lunar Outpost also described its delivery of other work under NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract for NASA’s Artemis program and referenced a ten-mission plan for lunar and cislunar launches before 2030. “Returning to the Moon is more than just landing rovers. We are actively deploying the technologies that enable people to work, live, and build in space,” said Justin Cyrus, Founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost. “NVIDIA has set the standard for advanced AI computing, and we're proud to work alongside them as we bring increasingly intelligent capabilities to the lunar surface and build towards a Moon Base.” “Lunar missions require intelligent systems that can process data and make decisions in real time,” said Chen Su, Head of edge AI product marketing at NVIDIA. “Lunar Outpost is using NVIDIA Jetson and CUDA-X libraries to give its rovers the onboard AI computing needed for terrain mapping, autonomous navigation, mission data processing and scientific discovery.”

Provided by Globe Newswire on behalf of Nvidia. Click to read original content. The original article was written by Decision Insights Editorial.