LithoSpace: A Democratised Spatial Data Platform for Extraterrestrial Geoscience and Geochemical Mapping

With renewed interest in space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial resources, visualising spatial data from celestial bodies like the Moon, Mars, asteroids and other celestial bodies is becoming increasingly important. LithoSpace provides a digital infrastructure to address this need. It allows users to visualise and analyse extra-terrestrial spatial data, including points of interest, collected samples, corresponding geochemistry, and other analytical data, as well as to collate existing data and generate new data and therefore value and insight.

LithoSpace builds upon the proven technology of LithoSurfer, designed for terrestrial data types. This presentation demonstrates how LithoSpace's advanced data analytics and exploration tools can benefit the expanding frontiers of extra-terrestrial resource exploration. The platform's highly detailed relational data models enable the collation and analysis of diverse data types, uncovering relationships and patterns in data collected from rovers or probes, satellite imagery, and topographic features. Standardised data formats empower researchers and explorers to leverage advanced algorithms for in-depth, automated exploration of these datasets.

This study showcases how LithoSpace's unique cloud-based geochemistry tools can visualise slight variations in geochemical composition using existing, standardised, and cleaned lunar and martian geochemical data. The analysis confirms previously known findings, such as the basaltic geochemical composition of Apollo 11 samples and the wide range of geochemical composition of rocks on Mars as analysed by the Curiosity rover. However, it more importantly highlights how LithoSpace facilitates improved, user-friendly analytics, enabling “on-the-fly” calculation, interpretations and rock classifications. As more data is collected, LithoSpace will enhance our ability to develop new theories about planetary formation and assist with improved geological mapping of extra-terrestrial bodies.

LithoSpace empowers users with the latest technology and data science to navigate the initial stages of lunar exploration for mineral resources. The robust toolkit developed for terrestrial samples can be readily applied to analyse the influx of data from upcoming missions, potentially leading to groundbreaking discoveries and unlocking the hidden resources of our celestial neighbors. Furthermore, standardised and cleaned datasets within LithoSpace (https://app.lithospace.com/) pave the way for the application of advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence, ultimately refining interpretations and creating models for future space exploration endeavors.