Space 2.0: Stanford Using AI to Democratize Space

There is a large and growing environmental problem that is not on this Earth--it's trash orbiting our planet in space. Space debris is a not only an economic risk that can affect every day modern living, but also it is an existential risk that jeopardizes the ability for scientists to research weather and climate changes that impact all living things on Earth. In early February 2019, researchers from Stanford University's Space Rendezvous Laboratory (SLAB) announced a plan to crowdsource artificial intelligence (AI) to solve the massive problem of orbiting space debris. Simone D'Amico, founder and director of the Stanford's Space Rendezvous Lab, is partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) to create an AI system that will provide navigational guidance to a space "tow truck" in order to identify, fix or remove defunct, orbiting satellites that are above the atmosphere, yet doomed to orbit due to the gravitational pull of the Earth. How can artificial intelligence solve the problem of space debris?