The Jetson platform, developed by Nvidia in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics, is preparing to be used in a mission beyond the Earth this time. Space technologies company Lunar Outpost announced that it will include Nvidia Jetson processors in its new Lunar exploration vehicle. If the mission goes ahead as planned, Jetson could be recorded as the first GPU-based system running on the lunar surface. The company will evaluate this hardware specifically to manage the vehicle’s lidar system and process environmental data in real time.
Lunar Outpost CEO Justin Cyrus stated that the company is currently comparing existing flight computers used in space missions with the Nvidia Jetson platform. According to Cyrus, the aim is to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of GPU-based systems that offer higher processing capacity in space missions. The company aims to create an architecture that can benefit from artificial intelligence-supported computing capabilities while maintaining the reliability of traditional space computers.
NASA’s work with private companies within the scope of the Commercial Lunar Payload program also stands out as one of the important factors behind this development. Within the scope of the program, companies are asked to develop vehicles that will carry scientific equipment to the Moon’s surface. While examining the geological structure of the Moon, these missions also aim to investigate water ice and other natural resources that can be used in the future.
Nvidia Jetson platform could take on more role in Moon missions
Nvidia recently announced a similar collaboration not only with Lunar Outpost but also with Firefly Aerospace. Firefly Aerospace, one of the first private companies to successfully land a robot on the Moon, plans to use the Jetson platform in its spacecraft called Elytra, which will operate in lunar orbit. This system will process the images obtained directly in orbit, contributing to scientific mapping studies and helping to track vehicle traffic on the lunar surface.
The new exploration vehicle developed by Lunar Outpost will be sent to the Moon with a lander produced by Intuitive Machines. The vehicle will collect data with various sensors, especially in craters and deep regions that are difficult to examine from orbit. One of the missions planned after this will focus on the Reiner Gamma region, which has attracted the attention of scientists for many years. This area on the lunar surface is still not fully explained due to its unusual magnetic properties.
According to the company’s current plan, all of these missions will be launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket before the end of the year. While Falcon 9 has become one of the most frequently preferred launch systems for commercial Moon missions in recent years, it also plays an important role in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Although the Jetson platform is not as well-known as Nvidia’s data center-focused artificial intelligence processors such as Blackwell or Vera Rubin, it has a critical position in robotic systems. The platform, developed with low power consumption and compact structure, can process data from sensors locally without the need for a cloud connection. Thus, robots can analyze their environment in a shorter time and make faster decisions. This approach can provide significant advantages, especially in space missions where communication delay is high.
However, the lunar surface presents much more challenging conditions for electronic systems than Earth orbit. Due to the absence of an atmosphere, cosmic radiation can directly affect equipment. In addition, temperature differences of up to hundreds of degrees between day and night seriously challenge the durability of electronic components. Justin Cyrus also states that keeping the systems running with very low energy consumption, especially during long lunar nights, is one of the biggest engineering problems.
Lunar Outpost uses a combination of artificial intelligence-supported physical autonomy and classical deterministic control systems. By running these two approaches on the same infrastructure, the company aims to provide reconnaissance vehicles with a structure that is both reliable and able to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Thus, the aim is for vehicles to evaluate their environment without the need for human intervention and to react faster to unexpected situations that arise during the mission.
The company’s future plans are not limited to this. In addition to several small autonomous exploration vehicles that will be sent to the Moon in the coming years, the development of a larger vehicle called Pegasus is also ongoing. Pegasus is planned to have the capacity to carry astronauts in the future. However, this mission depends on the heavy-lift rocket developed by Blue Origin becoming ready. Due to technical problems experienced in the summer months, it is not yet clear when the rocket will fly again.
The ability to use systems with more powerful processing capacity on the lunar surface is considered a remarkable development in terms of permanent bases and advanced robot fleets planned to be established in the future. However, the realization of these goals seems to depend not only on processor technologies but also on the timely commissioning of reliable launch systems that can carry heavy loads. The success of the first Jetson-based mission may provide important data on the performance of GPU-supported artificial intelligence systems in the harsh conditions of space.
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