It Was Inevitable – NASA Names First Chief AI Officer

Posted on by onespaceman2000

David Salvagnini, currently NASA’s chief data officer, will now also hold the title of Chief Artificial Intelligence (AI) Officer. It seems to be the trend these days as AI infiltrates organizations.

With regards to the new position, NASA noted:

This appointment is in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. Salvagnini now is responsible for aligning the strategic vision and planning for AI usage across NASA. He serves as a champion for AI innovation, supporting the development and risk management of tools, platforms, and training.

How important is AI to the future of the space industry? I asked deepai.org/chat and got back this self-important reply:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a crucial role in the space industry, transforming various aspects of space exploration, development, and operations. Here are some key areas where AI is making a significant impact:

  • Spacecraft Operations: AI algorithms are used to monitor and control spacecraft systems, enabling autonomous decision-making and reducing the need for human intervention. This improves the efficiency and reliability of spacecraft operations.
  • Data Analysis: AI-powered data analysis tools are used to process vast amounts of data collected from space missions, such as satellite imagery, astronomical observations, and sensor data. This enables scientists to identify patterns, detect anomalies, and make more informed decisions.
  • Robotics and Automation: AI is being used to develop more advanced robotic systems for space missions, such as autonomous robots for planetary exploration and satellite maintenance. This reduces the risk of human error and increases the efficiency of operations.
  • Predictive Maintenance: AI-powered predictive maintenance tools are used to detect potential issues in spacecraft systems, enabling proactive maintenance and reducing the risk of equipment failure.
  • Space Weather Forecasting: AI models are used to predict space weather events, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can impact satellite communications and navigation systems.
  • Exoplanet Hunting: AI-powered algorithms are used to analyze data from exoplanet-hunting missions, such as NASA’s Kepler space telescope, to identify potential exoplanet candidates.
  • Astronomical Research: AI is used to analyze large datasets from astronomical observations, such as galaxy distributions, star formation rates, and dark matter detection.
  • Space Traffic Management: AI-powered systems are being developed to manage space traffic, ensuring safe and efficient operations in low-Earth orbit.
  • Cybersecurity: AI-powered cybersecurity tools are used to detect and prevent cyber threats in space systems, protecting sensitive data and ensuring mission continuity.
  • Mission Planning: AI algorithms are used to optimize mission planning, taking into account factors such as propulsion systems, communication networks, and terrain analysis.

If this is true, then Mr. Salvagnini will be a very busy man.

Martian Habitat: One More Try

Posted on by onespaceman2000
 

The image above is one more attempt with an AI program to create a Martian habitat. As with the images in my last post, I asked the AI image program Freepik to respond to the following request: “Realist painting, surface of Mars, rocket and habitat in the foreground, ultra detailed.”

The image generated was better than either DALL-E 2 or Microsoft’s Image Creator (DALL-E 3) in terms of a semi-realistic and clearly planned habitat on Mars. Of course, an even more likely habitat would be below the surface, but I do not want to be too picky. But like the Microsoft program, Freepik added a moon that does not exist in the real world (or the real Mars, I should say).

I tried a different request to see it this would continue to happen. My request was: “Martian colony in the year 2400.” In this case, I was more satisfied with the result. In two of the four images, Freepik provided a viable habitat and did not display a moon. One of the images is displayed below. Unfortunately, the other two still has moons.

It will be hit or miss with many of these programs. You will need to know more than the program in terms of context. We are still early in the game and it is likely the AI programs will slowly remove these make-believe elements. But until then, don’t start using these images in any official publications or you will be spending a lot of time explaining yourself.

AI Images: Habitat on Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
 

I was recently using OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 to test what it would provide if I was looking for examples of a Martian colony. I put in the following request: “Realist painting, surface of Mars, rocket and habitat in the foreground, ultra detailed.”

One of the images, shown above, clearly shows the rocket yet the habitat may be the ruins next to it. If so, this is an interesting perspective on the human endeavor. Maybe I should just assume the rocket is the habitat. Another image from DALL- E 2, shown as the next image below, is a little better with a spacecraft in the background and apparently a habitat in the foreground. Not necessarily inspirational, yet funtional.

 

After this I decided to see what Microsoft’s Image Creator (DALL-E 3) would produce. This was the opposite of the grainy, somewhat dismal images from the earlier version. As shown below, the updated program provided me with a colorful, sleek image that seemed more fantastical than real. Is that a Ferris wheel on the right of the structure? And since when did Mars have at least five moon orbiting it? At least the surface is reddish, but what is this craziness?

 

Microsoft has certainly upgraded the imagery, but what does it represent? Is it pure science fiction with little regard for the location being named. I would rather kids using AI software see the DALL-E 2 images as a starting point rather than the Microsoft Image Creator images representing nothing slightly realistic on a planet that cannot be Mars.

Maybe this is the hallucination problem cited with ChatGPT. I had not heard that the problem spread to AI imagery, but it makes sense. I will need to keep this in mind as I play with these new programs.

AI Shown to be Useful for a Mars Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Martian impact crater located on Vastitas Borealis with residual water ice. (ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum))

While the media is continually writing about artificial intelligence (AI) doing a kid’s homework and then destroying the world, maybe AI does have some utility in preparing us for a second world.

A study published in Nature Synthesis found that AI may be useful in finding ways to extract oxygen from water on Mars. Scientists from China used AI to analyze about 3.7 million formulae to identify a chemical that could break down water. A single researcher would have needed about 2,000 years to perform similar analysis.

While other programs are also looking at ways to extract oxygen from the Martian surface or atmosphere (such as NASA’s MOXIE), this study demonstrates the power of AI and its ability to potentially produce other needed material for survival on Mars.

Mr. Musk may not like AI, but he may want to have it on hand if he ever finds himself on Mars.

Space Stories: Remembering the Solar System Delivery System, Many More Milky Ways, and AI Investigates Alien Life

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: USPS

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—NASA: “New US Postage Stamp Commemorates NASA’s Asteroid Sample Delivery“

On Sept. 24, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) spacecraft will speed past Earth and – at precisely the right moment – jettison its sample capsule containing material from asteroid Bennu…To help celebrate this engineering and scientific achievement, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp featuring an artist’s impression of the sample capsule as it parachutes to Earth over its landing site on the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range…Although OSIRIS-REx has already had many scientific accomplishments, at its heart, the mission’s research goals circle around the sample delivery from Bennu. That influenced the Postal Service’s decision to select the capsule’s descent as the subject of the new stamp.

—LiveScience.com: “James Webb Telescope Spots Thousands of Milky Way Lookalikes That ‘Shouldn’t Exist’ Swarming Across the Early Universe“

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found more than 1,000 galaxies mysteriously resembling our own Milky Way hiding out in the early universe. Shaped like warped vinyls and sporting delicate spiral arms, the Milky Way doppelgangers were found by JWST more than 10 billion years into the universe’s past — during a period when violent galactic mergers were thought to have made an abundance of such fragile galaxies impossible. Yet the disk galaxies are 10 times more common in the early universe than astronomers previously thought, new research reveals.

—Astronomy.com: “Can AI Find Life in the Universe?“

Scientists could soon use common lab technology along with sophisticated algorithms to answer one of the biggest questions in all of astronomy — are we alone in the universe? In new research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of scientists announced a novel technique that can take a sample of a material, feed it through a machine-learning algorithm, and find out if the material did — or didn’t — come from a living organism with 90 percent accuracy.