NASA Missions: AI Spacecraft Could One Day Run Missions Without Directions From Humans

Future space missions are going to reach the deepest part of the final frontier. Some of those missions, like those planned to Mars, may carry humans. But some unmanned missions will rely on technology that either has to be controlled by humans or have the capacity to act autonomously. An article in the journal Science: Robotics, written by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory employees Steve Chien and Kiri Wagstaff, emphasizes the importance autonomy will play in future space exploration. Researchers currently conduct their work through the remotely controlled robotic spacecraft. The Mars rovers, Kepler space telescope and Cassini oribiter are all examples of spacecraft controlled from Earth to capture the data and images that have offered researchers insight into space.