UMBRA
UMBRA is a lunar exploration simulator built to test a harder question than whether AI can write code: can it understand human intent, act independently, and recognise when to stop?
Core trick
Two agents coordinate across simulated communication delay; the rover agent gets terrain and illumination data but never the hidden resource map.
Description
UMBRA is a lunar exploration simulator built to test a harder question than whether AI can write code: can it understand human intent, act independently, and recognise when to stop?
Two GPT-6 Astra agents coordinate as Mission Control and an onboard rover across a simulated Earth–Moon communication delay. A commander gives a plain-English goal—“Find water ice near the shadowed basin without risking the drill”—and approves the mission. Astra chooses where to explore, adapts when terrain becomes hazardous, and refuses missions it cannot safely return from.
Built on real lunar elevation and imagery distributed through NASA’s Moon Trek, UMBRA combines calculated illumination with simulated ice deposits and rover operations. The model receives terrain and illumination data, but never the hidden ice map: it must reason about where to search.
I built UMBRA to explore what trustworthy autonomy looks like where human intervention cannot arrive immediately. The defining demonstration is not just a rover completing a mission—it is a rover explaining why an unsafe mission should not begin.
README excerpt
Lovable Preview- https://lovable.dev/preview/YWkQDkNHUTFap1Zg26wBJdCVsXY1pXgc # UMBRA ### Human intent. Autonomous exploration. Knowing when to stop. UMBRA is a lunar exploration simulator that asks: can AI understand what a person means, act independently, and recognise when a mission is unsafe? Built for an OpenAI hackathon with GPT-6 Astra and Lovable, it puts the user in command of a rover exploring the lunar south pole. ## How it works Two GPT-6 Astra agents coordinate across a simulated Earth–Moon communication delay: - **Mission Control** interprets the commander’s goal and proposes a mission. - **The rover agent** makes local decisions, explores, and reports its findings. - **The commander** approves or rejects missions without manually driving. Give UMBRA a plain-English goal: > “Find water ice near the shadowed basin without risking the drill.” Astra decides where to search, adapts when terrain becomes hazardous, and refuses missions it cannot safely return from. ## What the demo demonstrates - Turning human intent into exploration decisions. - Inferring promising search areas from terrain and illumination. - Rerouting when conditions differ from expectations. - Explaining why an unsafe mission should not proceed. The rover receives illumination data, but never the hidden simulated ice map. It must reason about where to look. ## Real data and simulation UMBRA uses lunar elevation and surface imagery distributed through NASA’s Moon Trek portal. Illumina