'It's not like science fiction any more': Nasa aiming to make spaceships talk

Now Nasa engineers say they are developing their own ChatGPT-style interface that could ultimately allow astronauts to talk to their spacecraft and mission controllers to converse with artificial intelligence-powered robots exploring distant planets and moons. An early incarnation of the AI is slated to be deployed on Lunar Gateway, a planned extraterrestrial space station that is part of the Artemis programme, according to the engineer developing the technology. "The idea is to get to a point where we have conversational interactions with space vehicles and they [are] also talking back to us on alerts, interesting findings they see in the solar system and beyond," Dr Larissa Suzuki, a visiting researcher at Nasa said. Speaking at a meeting on next-generation space communication at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in London on Tuesday, Suzuki outlined an interplanetary communications network with inbuilt AI to detect, and possibly fix, glitches and inefficiencies as they occur. "It then alerts mission operators that there is a likelihood that package transmissions from space vehicle X will be lost or will fail delivery," she said.