Astronomy & Space Exploration

Applications of AI in Space

It's one small step in the history of space flight. But it was one giant leap for computer-kind, with a state of the art artificial intelligence system being given primary command of a spacecraft.

- from NASA's Deep Space 1 - Remote Agent site

Applications

Contents

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Good Starting Places

AI in the News

Artificial Intelligence to Boost Space-Probe Efficiency

In a shift some hail as a revolution in space technology, scientists are reprogramming existing space probes to make more decisions on their own.

Source

May 30 2006, By Lovett, R. A.
AI in the News

Mars robots to get smart upgrade

The US space agency's rovers will get a software upgrade to allow them to make "intelligent" decisions in the study of Martian clouds and dust devils.

Source

May 28 2006, By Amos, J.
mars, nasa
Publication

Immobots Take Control

 The robot that saved Deep Space One was in the vanguard of a new breed of machines poised to have a big impact in space and here on Earth. Quite unlike the metallic contraptions that march stiffly through sci-fi movies or the mindless, stripped-down devices that heft parts on our assembly lines, the new robots have more brain than brawn. Each possesses a detailed picture of its own inner workings-encoded in software-based models-that gives it the ability to respond in novel ways to events its programmers might not have anticipated. Because many of these inward-focused, self-reconfiguring machines don't move, some computer scientists call them immobile robots, or "immobots."

Source

By Roush, Wade , 2002

General Readings

Link

Photo Essay: Curiosity’s Mission to Mars

Key moments in the rover’s journey from NASA’s JPL to the surface of the red planet.

Source

Aug 9 2012, By Myhrvold, Conor
mars, photos, rover
AI in the News

AI to predict sun's next attack on Earth

... researchers are now turning to automated image-processing and artificial intelligence to better forecast the sun's behaviour and give us time to prepare for a solar onslaught. ...
identifying features on the sun's surface is extremely difficult. "The sun is a challenging subject for automated image analysis," says Erwin Verwichte of the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. "The solar atmosphere is transparent so that various features appear superimposed within the line of sight, confusing the picture."

So Martens, McAteer and their colleagues have developed 15 programs that use image-processing techniques such as contour or edge recognition to automatically identify features on the sun's surface (arxiv.org/abs/1109.6922). Each program is looking for a different aspect of solar activity

Source

Dec 13 2011, By Ananthaswamy, Anil
solar, sun
Publication

The next 50 years of exploration

Viewpoint by David Southwood, director of science at the European Space Agency (Esa). BBC News. "We have been in space for 50 years. It is a long time and we have certainly come a long way so far. Where exactly will we be in space 50 years from now? It is hard to say.... Humans vs robots... Robotic explorers, sent out on our behalf, will help us find out not just what is out there but also to address many of these questions about our Solar System. Nonetheless, there always remains the question of whether we send men and women out there with the machines. Should we send people out to the unpleasant environments we want to investigate? Isn't it better to let robots take the strain?... However beyond our Solar System, manned exploration isn't an option. This is where robotic exploration really comes into its own."

Source

Oct 5 2007
Video

Clip from "200l: A Space Odyssey"

Very short clip from the movie made available by CNN as part of a February 28, 1997 [story][2].

Source

Feb 28 1997, By Wilson, Dick
HAL, video, videos
Publication

Intelligent Beings in Space!

 ...as missions go farther and become more ambitious, long-distance puppetry becomes less and less practical. If dumb spacecraft will not work, the answer is to make them smarter. Artificial intelligence will increasingly give spacecraft the ability to think for themselves.

Source

By CHANG, KENNETH, 2006
planetary mission
Publication

Space station gets HAL-like computer

Called Clarissa, the program will initially talk astronauts on the International Space Station through tests of onboard water supplies. But its developers hope it will eventually be used for all computer-related work on the station.

Clarissa was designed with input from astronauts. They said it was difficult to perform the 12,000 procedures necessary to maintain the ISS and conduct scientific experiments while simultaneously reading through lengthy instruction manuals.

Source

Jun 27 2005, By McKee, Maggie
HAL

Organizations

Link

Artificial Intelligence Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Artificial Intelligence Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "The Artificial Intelligence Group performs basic research in the areas of Artificial Intelligence Planning and Scheduling, with applications to science analysis, spacecraft commanding, deep space network operations, and space transportation systems."

Source

nasa
Link

Artificial Intelligence Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Artificial Intelligence Group performs basic research in the areas of Artificial Intelligence Planning and Scheduling, with applications to science analysis, spacecraft commanding, deep space network operations, and space transportation systems.

Long list of publications from 1993 to the present containing concept papers and overviews as well as technical articles.

 

Source

News

AI in the News

DARPA Video Shows Off Satellite-Scavenging Space Robot Tech

DARPA's vision for scavenging and salvaging dead satellites in orbit continues its trudge toward technologic feasibility. DARPA launched its Phoenix initiative in summer of last year hoping to cobble together a robot capable of intercepting, dismantling, and rebuilding defunct satellites even as they whip through space some 22,000 miles above the Earth.

Source

Jan 23 2013
DARPA
AI in the News

SpaceX Delivers Dragon to Orbit Despite Losing an Engine During Ascent

SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft into orbit Sunday night despite losing an engine shortly after lift off. The launch occurred at 8:35 p.m. EDT and was first time a Falcon 9 rocket has flown without a delay on the first scheduled launch time.

Source

Oct 8 2012, By PAUR, JASON
AI in the News

AI to predict sun's next attack on Earth

... researchers are now turning to automated image-processing and artificial intelligence to better forecast the sun's behaviour and give us time to prepare for a solar onslaught. ...
identifying features on the sun's surface is extremely difficult. "The sun is a challenging subject for automated image analysis," says Erwin Verwichte of the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. "The solar atmosphere is transparent so that various features appear superimposed within the line of sight, confusing the picture."

So Martens, McAteer and their colleagues have developed 15 programs that use image-processing techniques such as contour or edge recognition to automatically identify features on the sun's surface (arxiv.org/abs/1109.6922). Each program is looking for a different aspect of solar activity

Source

Dec 13 2011, By Ananthaswamy, Anil
solar, sun
AI in the News

Mars rovers are taught new tricks

Nasa is testing a "smart" upgrade to its robotic rovers on Mars.

Source

Jan 2 2007
mars, nasa
AI in the News

Artificial Intelligence to Boost Space-Probe Efficiency

In a shift some hail as a revolution in space technology, scientists are reprogramming existing space probes to make more decisions on their own.

Source

May 30 2006, By Lovett, R. A.
AI in the News

Mars robots to get smart upgrade

The US space agency's rovers will get a software upgrade to allow them to make "intelligent" decisions in the study of Martian clouds and dust devils.

Source

May 28 2006, By Amos, J.
mars, nasa

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