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MarsRetrieval: Benchmarking Vision-Language Models for Planetary-Scale Geospatial Retrieval on Mars

Shuoyuan Wang, Yiran Wang, Hongxin Wei · Feb 15, 2026 · Citations: 0

Data freshness

Extraction: Fresh

Check recency before relying on this page for active eval decisions. Use stale pages as context and verify against current hub results.

Metadata refreshed

Feb 15, 2026, 2:41 AM

Stale

Extraction refreshed

Apr 13, 2026, 7:12 AM

Fresh

Extraction source

Persisted extraction

Confidence 0.25

Abstract

Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration. Despite recent progress, most existing benchmarks remain confined to closed-set supervised visual tasks and do not support text-guided retrieval for geospatial discovery. We introduce MarsRetrieval, a retrieval benchmark for evaluating vision-language models for Martian geospatial discovery. MarsRetrieval includes three tasks: (1) paired image-text retrieval, (2) landform retrieval, and (3) global geo-localization, covering multiple spatial scales and diverse geomorphic origins. We propose a unified retrieval-centric protocol to benchmark multimodal embedding architectures, including contrastive dual-tower encoders and generative vision-language models. Our evaluation shows MarsRetrieval is challenging: even strong foundation models often fail to capture domain-specific geomorphic distinctions. We further show that domain-specific fine-tuning is critical for generalizable geospatial discovery in planetary settings. Our code is available at https://github.com/ml-stat-Sustech/MarsRetrieval

Low-signal caution for protocol decisions

Use this page for context, then validate protocol choices against stronger HFEPX references before implementation decisions.

  • Extraction flags indicate low-signal or possible false-positive protocol mapping.
  • Extraction confidence is 0.25 (below strong-reference threshold).
  • No explicit evaluation mode was extracted from available metadata.

HFEPX Relevance Assessment

This paper is adjacent to HFEPX scope and is best used for background context, not as a primary protocol reference.

Best use

Background context only

Use if you need

Background context only.

Main weakness

Extraction flags indicate low-signal or possible false-positive protocol mapping.

Trust level

Low

Eval-Fit Score

0/100 • Low

Treat as adjacent context, not a core eval-method reference.

Human Feedback Signal

Not explicit in abstract metadata

Evaluation Signal

Weak / implicit signal

HFEPX Fit

Adjacent candidate

Extraction confidence: Low

Field Provenance & Confidence

Each key protocol field shows extraction state, confidence band, and data source so you can decide whether to trust it directly or validate from full text.

Human Feedback Types

missing

None explicit

Confidence: Low Source: Persisted extraction missing

No explicit feedback protocol extracted.

Evidence snippet: Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration.

Evaluation Modes

missing

None explicit

Confidence: Low Source: Persisted extraction missing

Validate eval design from full paper text.

Evidence snippet: Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration.

Quality Controls

missing

Not reported

Confidence: Low Source: Persisted extraction missing

No explicit QC controls found.

Evidence snippet: Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration.

Benchmarks / Datasets

partial

Marsretrieval

Confidence: Low Source: Persisted extraction evidenced

Useful for quick benchmark comparison.

Evidence snippet: We introduce MarsRetrieval, a retrieval benchmark for evaluating vision-language models for Martian geospatial discovery.

Reported Metrics

missing

Not extracted

Confidence: Low Source: Persisted extraction missing

No metric anchors detected.

Evidence snippet: Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration.

Rater Population

missing

Unknown

Confidence: Low Source: Persisted extraction missing

Rater source not explicitly reported.

Evidence snippet: Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration.

Human Data Lens

  • Uses human feedback: No
  • Feedback types: None
  • Rater population: Unknown
  • Unit of annotation: Unknown
  • Expertise required: Coding
  • Extraction source: Persisted extraction

Evaluation Lens

  • Evaluation modes:
  • Agentic eval: None
  • Quality controls: Not reported
  • Confidence: 0.25
  • Flags: low_signal, possible_false_positive

Protocol And Measurement Signals

Benchmarks / Datasets

Marsretrieval

Reported Metrics

No metric terms were extracted from the available abstract.

Research Brief

Deterministic synthesis

Despite recent progress, most existing benchmarks remain confined to closed-set supervised visual tasks and do not support text-guided retrieval for geospatial discovery. HFEPX protocol signal is limited in abstract-level metadata, so treat it as adjacent context. Updated from current HFEPX corpus.

Generated Apr 13, 2026, 7:12 AM · Grounded in abstract + metadata only

Key Takeaways

  • Despite recent progress, most existing benchmarks remain confined to closed-set supervised visual tasks and do not support text-guided retrieval for geospatial discovery.
  • We introduce MarsRetrieval, a retrieval benchmark for evaluating vision-language models for Martian geospatial discovery.

Researcher Actions

  • Treat this as method context, then pivot to protocol-specific HFEPX hubs.
  • Cross-check benchmark overlap: Marsretrieval.
  • Verify metric definitions before comparing against your eval pipeline.

Caveats

  • Generated from title, abstract, and extracted metadata only; full-paper implementation details are not parsed.
  • Low-signal flag detected: protocol relevance may be indirect.

Research Summary

Contribution Summary

  • Despite recent progress, most existing benchmarks remain confined to closed-set supervised visual tasks and do not support text-guided retrieval for geospatial discovery.
  • We introduce MarsRetrieval, a retrieval benchmark for evaluating vision-language models for Martian geospatial discovery.
  • We propose a unified retrieval-centric protocol to benchmark multimodal embedding architectures, including contrastive dual-tower encoders and generative vision-language models.

Why It Matters For Eval

  • We introduce MarsRetrieval, a retrieval benchmark for evaluating vision-language models for Martian geospatial discovery.
  • We propose a unified retrieval-centric protocol to benchmark multimodal embedding architectures, including contrastive dual-tower encoders and generative vision-language models.

Researcher Checklist

  • Gap: Human feedback protocol is explicit

    No explicit human feedback protocol detected.

  • Gap: Evaluation mode is explicit

    No clear evaluation mode extracted.

  • Gap: Quality control reporting appears

    No calibration/adjudication/IAA control explicitly detected.

  • Pass: Benchmark or dataset anchors are present

    Detected: Marsretrieval

  • Gap: Metric reporting is present

    No metric terms extracted.

Category-Adjacent Papers (Broader Context)

These papers are nearby in arXiv category and useful for broader context, but not necessarily protocol-matched to this paper.

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