America Unveils Game-Changing Mineral-Hunting Weapon: Microwave-Sized Device “Sees” Earth, Detects Lithium Deposits from 18,000m, Poised to Reshape Global Energy Landscape

NASA is revolutionizing mineral exploration with AVIRIS-5, an advanced imaging spectrometer capable of detecting mineral traces from the stratosphere. Compact yet powerful, this microwave-sized device maps lithium-rich rocks and other critical minerals with unprecedented detail.

Mounted on NASA’s high-altitude ER-2 research aircraft, AVIRIS-5 surveys the American West at 60,000 feet. From this vantage point, it captures faint spectral signals reflected from geological surfaces—data that eludes conventional instruments. Each pixel contains a detailed light spectrum, enabling scientists to identify mineral compositions like fingerprints.

This initiative, a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), marks the largest aerial mineral mapping effort in U.S. history. It’s part of Earth MRI, a comprehensive program modernizing geological maps to identify critical mineral reserves for energy, manufacturing, and national security.

In its first year, AVIRIS-5 logged over 200 flight hours scanning Nevada, California, and other Western states. A standout discovery was hectorite—a high-value lithium clay—found in waste from an abandoned California mine.

This is significant as lithium is among the 50 minerals deemed critical to U.S. supply chains. Stratospheric detection offers a novel approach, accelerating resource assessments amid surging global demand for lithium in batteries and clean energy.

According to NASA JPL Earth System Scientist Dana Chadwick, AVIRIS-5’s applications extend beyond minerals. It can enhance land management, assess snowmelt water resources, and monitor wildfire-prone areas.

The sensor’s breakthrough lies in its doubled spatial resolution, capturing 30 cm details from over 17 km. Each flight generates vast datasets of imagery and per-pixel spectral reflections, providing superior geological insights.

AVIRIS-5’s technology builds on innovations from NASA JPL’s Microdevices Laboratory, using prisms, diffraction gratings, sensor arrays, and “black silicon”—an ultra-light-absorbing material—to minimize noise and maximize precision. Similar sensors have supported missions mapping Mars’ crust, Titan’s lakes, and lunar water.

Since the first AVIRIS in 1986, the series has studied volcanoes, disasters, wildfires, crops, and more. AVIRIS-5 extends this legacy with an unprecedented project backed by the U.S. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Over four years, the GEMx program aims to help communities repurpose old mines, identify new mineral reserves, and mitigate risks like acid mine drainage.

With AVIRIS-5, lithium mapping is just the beginning. NASA envisions it transforming Earth observation—one spectral dataset at a time—through the sharpest imagery ever captured from the sky.