From smartphones and gaming consoles to electric SUVs, the devices that define modern life depend on a hidden supply chain of lithium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals. To secure that supply without tearing up more of the planet, NASA is turning the sky into a prospecting platform, flying advanced imaging instruments at 60,000 feet to spot promising deposits long before a drill rig ever arrives. I see that shift as more than a clever use of aerospace hardware, it is a test of whether high tech can make the clean energy transition less environmentally costly and less geopolitically fragile.
At the heart of this effort is a new generation of sensors that read the mineral fingerprints in rock and soil from far above the ground. By pairing those instruments with aircraft and orbital platforms, NASA and its partners are trying to map where the building blocks of batteries, wind turbines and chips actually sit inside the crust, and to do it at a scale that traditional fieldwork could never match. The result is a quiet race in the upper atmosphere, where the future of phones and EVs is being charted one pixel at a time.
Why NASA is flying a mineral survey at 60,000 feet
The basic problem NASA is trying to solve is simple: the world wants more clean energy hardware, but the minerals that make it possible are unevenly distributed and often controlled by a small group of producers. That is why aircraft are now cruising at 60,000 feet above Earth, carrying instruments that can scan vast tracts of terrain for the spectral signatures of lithium, aluminum and rare earth elements that end up in phones, EVs and grid batteries. From that vantage point, a single flight can cover mountain ranges and basins that would take ground crews years to traverse, turning the upper atmosphere into a strategic mapping lane for the energy transition.
Since 2023, a joint NASA and United States Geological Survey team has already surveyed more than 366,000 square miles, or 950,000 square kilometers, in a campaign that treats the western United States as a test bed for this airborne prospecting model. Reporting on the project describes how flying at 60,000 feet allows the aircraft to stay above most weather while still collecting detailed data, and how the resulting maps could reduce dependence on what officials describe as hostile foreign powers’ mineral production by pointing industry toward domestic resources instead, a goal that is central to the broader GEMx project highlighted in Since 2023.
The AVIRIS-5 leap: turning light into a mineral map
The workhorse of this new survey push is a sensor that treats sunlight like a data stream. Called AVIRIS, and in its latest form often referred to as AVIRIS-5, the instrument splits reflected light into hundreds of narrow wavelength bands, then uses that spectrum to infer which minerals are present on the ground. In practical terms, it means a single pass of the aircraft can generate a detailed mineralogical map, with each pixel tied to a specific combination of clays, carbonates or ore minerals that are crucial for batteries and electronics.
NASA describes AVIRIS-5 as the latest in a long line of imaging spectrometers pioneered at JPL to survey Earth, the Moon and other planetary bodies, a lineage that has steadily sharpened the ability to read geology from a distance. The new sensor is designed to support a national scale survey of critical minerals, combining high spatial resolution with a broad spectral range so that subtle differences in mineral chemistry show up clearly in the data. That combination of survey reach and spectral precision is what makes Called AVIRIS a cornerstone of the current mapping campaign.
From lithium to rare earths: what the flights are actually finding
For all the technical sophistication, the value of these flights ultimately comes down to what they reveal in the rocks. The western United States is already known to host lithium-bearing clays, aluminum rich formations and pockets of rare earth elements such as neodymium and cerium, but the distribution and quality of those resources are still poorly constrained. By flying repeated lines over basins, volcanic fields and sedimentary sequences, NASA’s instruments are starting to fill in that picture, turning patchy geological knowledge into a more continuous map of where critical minerals might be concentrated.
One NASA account of the campaign notes that lithium, aluminum and rare earth elements such as neodymium and cerium are just a few of the 50 m mineral commodities that the United States Geological Survey considers critical or near critical to the economy and national security, and that the country is already fully import reliant for 12 of them while heavily dependent on imports for another 29. The airborne data is intended to help narrow that vulnerability by pointing to domestic targets that could be explored more intensively on the ground, a strategy that hinges on the detailed mineral maps produced by the flights described in Lithium.
GEMx and the people flying the mineral mappers
Behind the acronyms and sensor specs is a small community of pilots, engineers and geophysicists who spend their days turning flight plans into usable science. The GEMx project, which uses high altitude aircraft as a platform for mineral mapping, relies on crews who can thread a narrow path between air traffic constraints, weather and the need to fly precise lines over target geology. From their perspective, the 60,000 foot altitude is not just a number, it is a working environment where the air is thin, temperatures are low and every instrument must be tuned to operate reliably for hours at a time.
One profile of the team highlights geophysicist Todd Hoefen, who works with colleagues as NASA instruments fly in aircraft 60,000 feet, or 18,000 meters, overhead to collect the spectral data that later becomes a mineral map. The account describes how the group coordinates with ground based geologists to validate what the sensors see from the sky, and how they adjust flight lines to capture key features like fault zones or clay rich basins that might host lithium bearing minerals. That blend of airborne precision and ground truthing is central to the way As NASA describes the mineral mappers’ work out west.
The newest instrument and a lithium hit from the stratosphere
Even within NASA’s own fleet, the current mineral mapper is a generational step forward. The Newest Instrument in the program is scheduled for more than 200 hours of GEMx flights through fall 2025, a tempo that reflects both the urgency of the mapping effort and the confidence scientists have in the data it returns. I see that schedule as a sign that airborne mineral surveys are shifting from experimental to operational, with flight hours planned much like a commercial resource company would plan a drilling campaign.
Reporting on the instrument notes that scientists will process an enormous volume of data from those 200 hours, using it to refine algorithms that distinguish between similar looking minerals and to prioritize areas for follow up. The same family of sensors has already demonstrated its power by spotting a lithium deposit from 60,000 feet, a proof of concept that shows how spectral imaging can flag economically relevant targets long before a geologist sets foot on the ground. That detection, described in coverage of NASA’s next generation imaging, underscores why The Newest Instrument is being pushed so hard in the current campaign and why a separate account of the same technology emphasizes how NASA and JPL are using the sensor to spot lithium deposits and track dust across the Sahara Desert, as detailed in Dec.
From EMIT in orbit to EMIT-style thinking on the ground
The airborne campaign is not happening in isolation. It builds on a broader shift inside NASA toward using imaging spectroscopy to understand Earth’s surface, a shift that is embodied in the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, or EMIT. That mission, mounted on the International Space Station, is designed to map the mineral composition of dust source regions so scientists can better understand how airborne particles affect climate, air quality and ecosystems. The same basic idea, reading mineral fingerprints from reflected light, underpins both EMIT and the aircraft based surveys, even if the targets differ.
NASA describes EMIT as an Earth Ventures Instrument, often abbreviated as EVI, that delivers data not just to climate scientists but also to other researchers and the public, with an emphasis on open access and cross disciplinary use. The mission’s focus on mineral dust has already produced detailed maps of arid regions, and those datasets are informing how and where airborne mineral mapping might be extended in the future. By treating EMIT as both a science mission and a technology pathfinder, NASA has effectively turned it into a template for how orbital instruments can support resource mapping, a role that is spelled out in the About the description of The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation and in the broader EMIT overview on EMIT.
Inside the control room: how NASA and JPL run the mineral hunt
From the outside, the mineral mapping flights can look like a simple loop of takeoffs and landings, but inside NASA and JPL the operation is closer to a rolling experiment. Teams in the Office of Communica and science divisions coordinate to decide which basins, mountain belts or volcanic fields to prioritize, balancing scientific curiosity with the strategic need to understand potential critical mineral resources. That planning is then translated into flight lines, instrument settings and data handling protocols that must all work together if the survey is going to deliver usable results.
A public talk hosted as part of the Vonarman series, introduced by Nikki Hyrick from JPL’s Office of Communica, offers a glimpse into how these decisions are made and how the EMIT mission feeds into the broader mineral mapping strategy. In that discussion, scientists explain how they calibrate instruments, validate spectral signatures and share data with partners such as the United States Geological Survey, all steps that are just as relevant for the airborne GEMx flights as they are for the orbital EMIT platform. The talk, available through Apr, underscores how much of the mineral hunt is about careful coordination rather than just pointing a sensor at the ground.
Clay, Hectorite and the social license to mine
For all the focus on lithium and rare earths, some of the most interesting stories in this mapping push involve less glamorous minerals like clays. One NASA explainer zeroes in on Hectorite, a lithium bearing clay that does not look like much in a hand sample but could be a key feedstock for future batteries if it can be mined and processed economically. By highlighting Hectorite in public outreach, NASA is signaling that the mineral mapping effort is not just about flashy ore bodies but also about understanding the full spectrum of materials that might support the energy transition.
The same outreach stresses that identifying these minerals from the air is only the first step, and that any move toward extraction will have to navigate environmental concerns and community expectations. That is where the concept of a social license to operate comes in, the idea that mining projects must earn and maintain public acceptance by minimizing harm and sharing benefits. By providing high resolution data on where minerals like Hectorite occur, NASA can help companies and regulators design projects that avoid sensitive areas and reduce unnecessary disturbance, a theme that comes through in the Jul explainer that asks what is so special about this clay and why NASA is talking about it.
Remote sensing as a tool for gentler exploration
The promise of airborne and orbital mineral mapping is not just that it finds more resources, it is that it can do so with less disruption on the ground. Traditional exploration often involves cutting roads, drilling numerous test holes and running ground based geophysical surveys across large areas, all of which can fragment habitats and strain relations with local communities. By contrast, a high altitude survey can narrow the search to a handful of promising targets, allowing companies to focus their invasive work where it is most likely to pay off.
That logic is echoed in a proposal for sustainable mineral exploration in the area of the Great Cacaro Dyke and Cerro Impacto, which argues that high resolution remote sensing can provide detailed insights into subsurface resources without invasive ground based exploration, reducing unnecessary disruption to the natural environment. The same document suggests that integrating spectral imaging with other geophysical data can further refine targets, a strategy that aligns closely with NASA’s airborne mapping approach. In effect, the kind of surveys NASA is running at 60,000 feet could become a model for how to explore sensitive regions like the Amazon or Arctic with a lighter footprint, an idea that is central to the proposal.
National security, supply chains and the new sensor in the sky
Mineral mapping from the air is not just a scientific exercise, it is increasingly framed as a matter of national security and economic resilience. The United States relies heavily on imports for many of the minerals that go into EV batteries, wind turbines and advanced electronics, a dependence that leaves supply chains vulnerable to geopolitical shocks. By systematically scanning its own territory for critical minerals, the country is trying to build a clearer picture of what domestic resources it has and how quickly they could be brought online if foreign supplies were disrupted.
A recent account of a new NASA sensor, described under the heading New Sensor Pinpoints Critical Minerals on the Surface, notes that the instrument has ascended to the skies as part of a NASA and United States Geological Survey partnership that has been running since 2023. The report emphasizes that the sensor’s ability to identify critical minerals on the surface is directly tied to concerns about national security and the economy, framing the mapping effort as a strategic investment rather than a purely scientific one. That framing is reinforced in the description of how New Sensor Pinpoints Critical Minerals is being used to support decisions about where and how to develop new sources of supply.
From geophysics to GEMx: how aerial surveys are changing exploration
What NASA is doing with GEMx and AVIRIS-5 fits into a broader evolution in how the resource sector uses the sky. For decades, geophysical surveys have relied on aircraft and helicopters to carry magnetometers, radiometric detectors and other instruments over large areas, building up maps of subsurface structures that might host ore bodies. Those methods are still vital, but the addition of high resolution imaging spectroscopy adds a new layer of information, one that speaks directly to surface mineralogy rather than just underlying structures.
Industry oriented descriptions of geophysics stress that these surveys are vital for the exploration sector, enabling the identification of areas with potential mineral deposits using ground based or aerial platforms for extensive area coverage. By combining that traditional toolkit with NASA’s spectral imaging, explorers can now screen vast regions more efficiently, focusing their detailed work where both the geophysical and spectral signals line up. In that sense, the flights at 60,000 feet are not replacing classic exploration methods, they are sharpening them, a point that comes through clearly in the way These surveys describe the role of aerial platforms in modern mineral exploration.
Phones, EVs and the politics of the upper atmosphere
When I look at the arc from EMIT on the International Space Station to GEMx flights over the western United States, what stands out is how tightly our consumer choices are now linked to what happens tens of thousands of feet above the ground. The same imaging techniques that help climate scientists understand dust over the Sahara are being repurposed to find the lithium that goes into a Tesla Model Y battery pack or the rare earth magnets inside a smartphone’s haptic motor. That convergence blurs the line between environmental monitoring and resource prospecting, and it raises hard questions about how to balance the push for more clean energy hardware with the need to protect landscapes and communities.
NASA’s own framing of the mineral mapping effort, including references to GEMx as an ongoing project that hunts for the minerals powering phones, EVs and clean energy from 60,000 feet above Earth, makes clear that the agency sees itself as a player in that balancing act. By providing open, high quality data on where critical minerals are and how they are embedded in broader ecosystems, NASA is giving policymakers and industry a chance to make more informed choices about where to mine and where to leave the ground undisturbed. Whether that opportunity is seized will depend on decisions far from the flight lines, but the fact that those choices are now being shaped by instruments flying at 60,000 feet is a reminder of how the politics of the energy transition increasingly play out in the thin air of the upper atmosphere, a reality captured in accounts of how 60,000 feet above Earth, NASA is hunting for the minerals that keep modern life running.
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