Top 10 AI in Space & the Universe
From planning rover drives on Mars to finding new planets around other stars, AI is helping us explore the universe. Some of these you can even try yourself.
Top 10 AI Tools › AI in Space & the Universe
1. Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The world’s largest digital camera scans the whole southern sky every few nights. Since February 2026 it sends out alerts about anything that changes: 800,000 on the first night, and up to 7 million per night at full speed. Machine-learning “brokers” sort them within minutes, so astronomers can quickly catch supernovae, asteroids and other surprises.
Try it / read more: Follow the discoveries
2. NASA ExoMiner++
An AI from NASA Ames that tells real planets apart from false signals. The first version validated 370 exoplanets from Kepler data; the new ExoMiner++ has flagged about 7,000 candidates in TESS data. It’s free on GitHub for anyone to use.
Try it / read more: Get it on GitHub
3. Claude plans a Mars rover’s route
In December 2025, NASA JPL let AI plan Perseverance’s drives for the first time. Anthropic’s Claude studied orbital images to map rocks, sand and slopes and set the waypoints for two drives of 210 m and 246 m. Engineers checked every plan in a “digital twin” of the rover before sending it to Mars.
Try it / read more: Read the story
4. Surya (NASA & IBM)
An open AI model trained on years of images of the Sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. It helps forecast solar flares and space weather, which can disturb satellites, GPS and power grids, and even gives Norway stronger northern lights.
Try it / read more: See it on Hugging Face
5. AEGIS: rovers that choose their own targets
Onboard AI on NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers picks interesting rocks and aims the laser instruments by itself, so the rovers can do science while waiting for instructions from Earth.
Try it / read more: About Perseverance
6. Galaxy Zoo: Euclid & Zoobot
Volunteers classify galaxy shapes in images from ESA’s Euclid space telescope, and their answers train an AI called Zoobot to sort millions more. Anyone can join from a phone or computer.
Try it / read more: Help classify galaxies
7. Planet Hunters TESS
A citizen-science project where people look at star brightness data from NASA’s TESS telescope to spot planets that computers may miss. Volunteers have helped discover real new worlds.
Try it / read more: Start planet hunting
8. Breakthrough Listen (SETI)
The biggest search for signals from alien civilisations. Researchers use machine learning to sift through huge amounts of radio data, and an AI search in 2023 turned up 8 new “signals of interest” worth a second look. No aliens yet!
Try it / read more: Learn more
9. Prithvi (NASA & IBM)
Open AI models that read satellite images of Earth to map floods, wildfires, burn scars and crops. Space technology used to help us here on the ground.
Try it / read more: See the models
10. ESA Φ-lab
The European Space Agency’s lab for AI and Earth observation, working on things like smarter satellites that process images in orbit.
Try it / read more: Visit Φ-lab
Bonus: AI in Science & Nature
- Google DeepMind WeatherNext – AI weather forecasts that beat traditional models on many measures, and much faster.
- Microsoft Aurora – An AI model of the atmosphere for weather, air quality and ocean waves.
- AlphaFold – Predicted the 3D shapes of over 200 million proteins; won a share of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- AlphaEvolve – An AI agent that discovers new algorithms and solves maths problems.
- AlphaGenome – Predicts how changes in DNA affect how genes work.
- AI co-scientist – Google’s multi-agent system that suggests and tests new research ideas together with scientists.
- FutureHouse – Non-profit building AI “scientists” that read papers, plan experiments and analyse data.
- iNaturalist – Snap a photo of a plant or animal and AI suggests what it is; your sightings help scientists.
- Merlin Bird ID – Free app from Cornell that identifies birds from their song or a photo. Works great in Norway.
- Pl@ntNet – Identify plants from a photo and contribute to a global biodiversity database.
More from our AI guide
This page is part of our Top 10 AI Tools (2026) guide, with 150+ hand-picked AI tools, agents and projects.