How artificial intelligence is helping us explore the solar system

Robots don't need fresh air and water, or to lug around a bunch of food to keep themselves alive. They do, however, require humans to steer them and make decisions. Advances in machine learning technology may change that, making computers a more active collaborator in planetary science. Last week at the 2022 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, planetary scientists and astronomers discussed how new machine-learning techniques are changing the way we learn about our solar system, from planning for future mission landings on Jupiter's icy moon Europa to identifying volcanoes on tiny Mercury. Machine learning is a way of training computers to identify patterns in data, then harness those patterns to make decisions, predictions or classifications.