Artificial Intelligence In Space Exploration
Artificial intelligence has been making waves in recent years, enabling us to solve problems faster than traditional computing could ever allow . Advances in AI have allowed us to make progress in all kinds of disciplines – and these are not limited to applications on this planet . A few ways artificial intelligence can help us venture further in space.
1) Astronaut assistants - Researchers are working towards something similar, creating intelligent assistants to help astronauts. These AI-based assistants, even though they may not look as fancy as those in the movies, could be incredibly useful to space exploration . A recently developed virtual assistant can potentially detect any dangers in lengthy space missions . It would then alert the crew with suggestions for inspection . An AI assistant called Cimon was flown to the international space station (ISS) in December 2019, where it is being tested for three years.
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CIMON will assist astronauts on the International Space Station. |
2) Satellite data processing -
Earth observation satellites generate tremendous amounts of data. This is received by ground stations in chunks over a large period of time, and has to be pieced together before it can be analysed. While there have been some crowdsourcing projects to do basic satellite imagery analysis on a very small scale, artificial intelligence can come to our rescue for detailed satellite data analysis.For the sheer volume of data received, AI has been very effective in processing it smartly. It’s been used to estimate heat storage in urban areas and to combine meteorological data with satellite imagery for wind speed estimation. AI has also helped with solar radiation estimation using geostationary satellite data, among many other applications.
AI for data processing can also be used for the satellites themselves. In recent research, scientists tested various AI techniques for a remote satellite health monitoring system. This is capable of analysing data received from satellites to detect any problems, predict satellite health performance and present a visualisation for informed decision making.
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