Cesium releases 3D dataset of the moon
3D geospatial company Cesium has announced the release of Cesium Moon Terrain, the first comprehensive, precise, and readily-available 3D dataset of the moon.
Although Cesium Moon Terrain was developed to support NASA’s Artemis mission and other international space agencies, the dataset can be accessed and used by anyone to build advanced visualisations and simulations.
Cesium Moon Terrain is composed of precise terrain and imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) programme and other sources, and is provided as 3D Tiles, the Open Geospatial Consortium Community Standard created by Cesium.
“We launched Cesium Moon Terrain as an accurate and interoperable 3D Tiles canvas to support the international interest in lunar exploration and building structures on the moon’s surface,” said Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi. “Cesium Moon Terrain will enable engineers, system integrators, and digital content creators to build simulations, mission plans, and real-time operations experiences.”
Cesium Moon Terrain was recently demonstrated at the Digital Twin for Lunar Development Workshop held at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The workshop brought the space enterprise community together to focus on advancing digital twins for NASA and the creation of an open, interoperable platform for a lunar digital ecosystem.
Early adopters of Cesium Moon Terrain include Ansys, who is using the data in conjunction with their RF Channel Modeler to understand the impacts introduced by challenging lunar locations, such as polar regions, in analysing communications system designs intended to serve participants on the lunar surface.
Another is Buendea, which is collaborating with the NASA Advanced Operations Concept Lab on developing the XR Operations Support System (XOSS) to support real-time simulations on the Moon and Mars. Buendea is interested in Cesium Moon Terrain for its potential to enhance their ongoing projects.
“We’re excited about the potential of Cesium Moon Terrain to accelerate our work, including our efforts with NASA, to accurately plan and simulate explorations of the lunar surface,” said Julian Reyes, Founder of Buendea.
