A small, solitary rover, cut off from Earth, with no signal and no idea of its position. All it has is its panoramic camera, the same one used to snap pictures like a lunar tourist until late, and a single gift from its designers: an aerial map of the surface, captured previously from orbiting infrastructure and uploaded on board. The lunar night is approaching; soon, darkness and cold will seal the rover’s fate, unless...

In the Lunar x-view challenge, we ask you to help the rover by designing an algorithm that can match its ground-level panorama to that orbital map and pinpoint exactly where it stands. Study the ridges, the shadows, the distant peaks. Don’t mix up the landmarks.

Can you accurately locate the rover’s position on the lunar surface… before it’s too late?

Check out the problem description, the dataset and the starter-kit.

This competition is organized by ESA's Advanced Concepts Team (ACT) in partnership with the Institute of Science Tokyo, Adelaide University and Politecnico di Milano, Department of Aerospace Science and Technology.