Space Exploration

The most expensive ground in the solar system

Every kilogram sent beyond Earth costs a fortune, and every mission has exactly one chance to land in the right place. Knowing what lies beneath the surface — water ice for propellant, stable regolith for a base, mineral concentrations worth extracting — turns a gamble into a plan.

Geophysics is uniquely suited to this. The same physical principles that let us image a tunnel route on Earth let us infer the structure of a lunar mare or a Martian plain from orbit or from a rover, without drilling. Magnetic and gravimetric signatures reveal density and composition; electromagnetic methods trace buried ice and brine.

What AORVIS contributes

Our sensors are designed to be light, low-power and tolerant of harsh thermal and radiation environments — the same constraints that govern flight hardware. Paired with PRATYAKSHA, mission planners get probabilistic subsurface maps rather than raw traces, with uncertainty attached to every inference so that landing-site and in-situ-resource-utilisation decisions can be made on evidence.

Where it applies

• Landing-site selection and hazard avoidance
• Water-ice and volatile prospecting for propellant and life support
• Regolith characterisation for construction and shielding
• Planetary-scale structure and resource mapping