Lockheed Martin and NVIDIA to build Digital Twin for NOAA. Photo: NVIDIA

Lockheed Martin will work with computing company NVIDIA to build a digital twin of global weather events for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which the companies say will help NOAA address scientific challenges. 

Lockheed Martin received a contract to develop an Earth Observations Digital Twin which will help NOAA monitor current global environmental conditions, including extreme weather events. It will include data from satellite and ground-based observations. Lockheed will use its OpenRosetta3D platform and NVIDIA will contribute its Omniverse Nucleus database engine.

“At Lockheed Martin we regularly use digital twins and AI to provide our government customers with the clearest, current situational picture and actionable intelligence for their important missions,” said Matt Ross, senior program manager at Lockheed Martin Space. “We’re pleased that we can use our technology experience to collaborate with NVIDIA on this project to provide NOAA a timely, global visualization for their own important missions.”

The companies expect to demonstrate one of the variable data pipelines — sea surface temperature — by September 2023. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. NVIDIA announced the agreement on Nov. 17. 

“Digital twins will help us solve the world’s hardest scientific and environmental challenges,” said Dion Harris, lead product manager of accelerated computing at NVIDIA. “The combination of Lockheed Martin’s AI technology with NVIDIA Omniverse will give NOAA researchers a powerful system to improve weather predictions at a global scale.”