Foundation Models for Astrobiology: Paper I -- Workshop and Overview

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Main Authors: Felton, Ryan, Scharf, Caleb, Bartlett, Stuart, Cabrol, Nathalie A., Da Poian, Victoria, Gentry, Diana, Gong, Jian, Hoarfrost, Adrienne, Maskey, Manil, Nichols, Floyd, Nixon, Conor A., Panambur, Tejas, Pasterski, Joseph, Petrov, Anton S., Prabhu, Anirudh, Thomson, Brenda, Valizadegan, Hamed, Warren-Rhodes, Kimberley, Wettergreen, David, Wong, Michael L., Yanchilina, Anastasia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Felton, Ryan
Scharf, Caleb
Bartlett, Stuart
Cabrol, Nathalie A.
Da Poian, Victoria
Gentry, Diana
Gong, Jian
Hoarfrost, Adrienne
Maskey, Manil
Nichols, Floyd
Nixon, Conor A.
Panambur, Tejas
Pasterski, Joseph
Petrov, Anton S.
Prabhu, Anirudh
Thomson, Brenda
Valizadegan, Hamed
Warren-Rhodes, Kimberley
Wettergreen, David
Wong, Michael L.
Yanchilina, Anastasia
author_facet Felton, Ryan
Scharf, Caleb
Bartlett, Stuart
Cabrol, Nathalie A.
Da Poian, Victoria
Gentry, Diana
Gong, Jian
Hoarfrost, Adrienne
Maskey, Manil
Nichols, Floyd
Nixon, Conor A.
Panambur, Tejas
Pasterski, Joseph
Petrov, Anton S.
Prabhu, Anirudh
Thomson, Brenda
Valizadegan, Hamed
Warren-Rhodes, Kimberley
Wettergreen, David
Wong, Michael L.
Yanchilina, Anastasia
contents Advances in machine learning over the past decade have resulted in a proliferation of algorithmic applications for encoding, characterizing, and acting on complex data that may contain many high dimensional features. Recently, the emergence of deep-learning models trained across very large datasets has created a new paradigm for machine learning in the form of Foundation Models. Foundation Models are programs trained on very large and broad datasets with an extensive number of parameters. Once built, these powerful, and flexible, models can be utilized in less resource-intensive ways to build many different, downstream applications that can integrate previously disparate, multimodal data. The development of these applications can be done rapidly and with a much lower demand for machine learning expertise. And the necessary infrastructure and models themselves are already being established within agencies such as NASA and ESA. At NASA this work is across several divisions of the Science Mission Directorate including the NASA Goddard and INDUS Large Language Models and the Prithvi Geospatial Foundation Model. And ESA initiatives to bring Foundation Models to Earth observations has led to the development of TerraMind. A workshop was held by the NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute, in February 2025, to investigate the potential of Foundation Models for astrobiological research and to determine what steps would be needed to build and utilize such a model or models. This paper shares the findings and recommendations of that workshop, and describes clear near-term, and future opportunities in the development of a Foundation Model (or Models) for astrobiology applications. These applications would include a biosignature, or life characterization, task, a mission development and operations task, and a natural language task for integrating and supporting astrobiology research needs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_08636
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Foundation Models for Astrobiology: Paper I -- Workshop and Overview
Felton, Ryan
Scharf, Caleb
Bartlett, Stuart
Cabrol, Nathalie A.
Da Poian, Victoria
Gentry, Diana
Gong, Jian
Hoarfrost, Adrienne
Maskey, Manil
Nichols, Floyd
Nixon, Conor A.
Panambur, Tejas
Pasterski, Joseph
Petrov, Anton S.
Prabhu, Anirudh
Thomson, Brenda
Valizadegan, Hamed
Warren-Rhodes, Kimberley
Wettergreen, David
Wong, Michael L.
Yanchilina, Anastasia
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Advances in machine learning over the past decade have resulted in a proliferation of algorithmic applications for encoding, characterizing, and acting on complex data that may contain many high dimensional features. Recently, the emergence of deep-learning models trained across very large datasets has created a new paradigm for machine learning in the form of Foundation Models. Foundation Models are programs trained on very large and broad datasets with an extensive number of parameters. Once built, these powerful, and flexible, models can be utilized in less resource-intensive ways to build many different, downstream applications that can integrate previously disparate, multimodal data. The development of these applications can be done rapidly and with a much lower demand for machine learning expertise. And the necessary infrastructure and models themselves are already being established within agencies such as NASA and ESA. At NASA this work is across several divisions of the Science Mission Directorate including the NASA Goddard and INDUS Large Language Models and the Prithvi Geospatial Foundation Model. And ESA initiatives to bring Foundation Models to Earth observations has led to the development of TerraMind. A workshop was held by the NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute, in February 2025, to investigate the potential of Foundation Models for astrobiological research and to determine what steps would be needed to build and utilize such a model or models. This paper shares the findings and recommendations of that workshop, and describes clear near-term, and future opportunities in the development of a Foundation Model (or Models) for astrobiology applications. These applications would include a biosignature, or life characterization, task, a mission development and operations task, and a natural language task for integrating and supporting astrobiology research needs.
title Foundation Models for Astrobiology: Paper I -- Workshop and Overview
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08636