See what the
earth hides
An open-source geophysical survey platform — hardware, software, and simulation — built to make multi-sensor subsurface imaging accessible to researchers, archaeologists, and recovery teams.
Why This Exists
Building tools I wish existed
Professional geophysics equipment costs tens of thousands of dollars. That price locks out university field schools, small archaeology firms, and humanitarian recovery teams — the people who often need subsurface imaging the most but can least afford it.
I started TERRASCRY because I kept running into the same gap: the science is well-understood, the sensors are commodity parts, but nobody has put them together into an open, affordable platform. Whether it's a research excavation, an environmental site assessment, or a DPAA mission to bring the fallen home, the underlying physics is the same.
So that's what this is — open-source hardware anyone can build, open-source software anyone can extend, and a rigorous physics simulation engine to validate everything against theory. No black boxes, no vendor lock-in. Just instruments and code you can inspect, modify, and trust.
The Instruments
Three instruments, one platform
Each instrument is open-source hardware (CERN-OHL-S v2.0) designed to be built, modified, and improved by the community.
Pathfinder
PrototypeSurface Reconnaissance
Handheld multi-sensor fluxgate gradiometer for rapid magnetic survey at 10 Hz. ESP32-based, GPS-synchronized, with real-time anomaly detection. Built with PlatformIO and off-the-shelf sensor modules.
HIRT
Design PhaseSubsurface Tomography
Crosshole dual-channel system for 3D subsurface imaging. Combines magnetic induction tomography (MIT-3D) and electrical resistivity (ERT-Lite) in a single deployment. Shares Pathfinder's sensor pod for seamless data fusion.
GeoSim
Active DevelopmentPhysics Simulation
Python physics engine for magnetic dipole forward modeling, gradiometer simulation, and multi-physics joint inversion via SimPEG. Validates field data against theory before you dig.
Field Workflow
From surface to subsurface model
Reconnaissance
Deploy Pathfinder for rapid surface survey. Multi-sensor data streams in real-time via MQTT to the edge compute node.
Target Refinement
TargetAnomalies flagged in the field guide HIRT crosshole deployments. Surface gradient maps constrain the 3D inversion mesh.
Simulation & Validation
TargetGeoSim forward models validate field observations against physics. Joint inversion fuses magnetics, EMI, MIT, and ERT into a unified subsurface model.
Applications
Who this is for
TERRASCRY is being designed for teams who work in the ground — archaeologists, geophysicists, environmental engineers, and recovery specialists.
Archaeology & Cultural Heritage
Non-destructive subsurface mapping for research excavations, cultural resource management, and site preservation. Identify buried structures and features before breaking ground.
Environmental & UXO Survey
Detect and characterize buried ordnance, contamination plumes, and subsurface hazards. Multi-sensor fusion aims to reduce false positives in complex sites.
Recovery & Forensic Archaeology
Subsurface survey support for humanitarian recovery missions and forensic archaeology. Designed with the workflows and constraints of DPAA missing personnel recovery in mind.
Academic & Research
Open simulation engine and survey tools for university geophysics programs and field research. Reproduce results, extend the physics, publish with confidence.
Software
Platform architecture
The cloud platform is in active development. These interfaces are functional but evolving.
Survey App
In DevelopmentReal-time survey visualization with 2D heatmaps, 3D terrain, and basemap draping. The primary field operator interface.
app.terrascry.com Admin Portal
InternalOrganization and project management. Not yet open for external access.
portal.terrascry.com Viewer
Public PreviewEmbeddable viewer for sharing survey data. No authentication required.
viewer.terrascry.com REST API
ExperimentalDatasets, scenarios, and survey data. API surface is unstable and subject to change.
api.terrascry.com Get Involved
Follow along or collaborate
TERRASCRY is open source and in active development. Hardware designs are published under CERN-OHL-S v2.0, software under MIT. If you're working in geophysics, archaeology, or recovery operations and want to collaborate, I'd like to hear from you.
Some novel sensor implementations and signal processing methods may be subject to future patent filings.