This interagency national challenge brings together the capabilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
Challenge
Superiority in space begins with the ability to see, predict, and safely maneuver within a domain that is growing more crowded, more contested, and more dynamic by the year. As American operations extend from low Earth orbit and out into cislunar space, the United States must develop, field, and sustain increasingly complex space capabilities on timelines that push beyond what traditional engineering and mission operations methods were designed to support. Across spacecraft, surface systems, communications, logistics, environmental forecasting, autonomous operations, and supporting infrastructure, NASA must be able to design, simulate, test, qualify, integrate, and operate tightly coupled systems at a speed, scale, and level of concurrency that was previously impractical. AI-enabled engineering capabilities will compress the path from concept to trusted operational readiness while preserving safety, performance, and mission assurance.
AI Solution
Recent advancements in artificial intelligence, including agentic and generative approaches, specialized AI models, and scientific AI workflows, present an opportunity to accelerate the development of complex space capabilities. These tools could help navigate high-dimensional design spaces, model tightly coupled system behavior, and uncover new approaches to spaceflight simulation, testing, qualification, mission design, and operations across NASA missions, including a Moon base. Tools will be used to unlock exploration deeper into space using more efficient propulsion technology, design and operation of processors in extreme environments, and faster calculation and analysis of mission-critical flight information.
Justification
NASA contributes science, technology, and mission data, operational experience, and high consequence engineering problems associated with returning humans to the Moon, establishing an enduring presence, and supporting a broader set of scientific and technical objectives. DOE is uniquely positioned to contribute scientific data, high-performance computing, specialized AI models, scientific AI workflows, and methods emerging from existing DOE challenge areas, including materials science and other mission-relevant domains.
National Impact
The nation that can best see, predict, operate within, and sustain systems within the space environment will achieve an unmatched freedom of action, from protecting the satellites that anchor the American economy to safeguarding the astronauts and infrastructure of a permanent return to the Moon to unleashing the space economy.