A new mission that will involve Japan’s Hakuto-R lunar lander and a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will involve sending an artificial intelligence tool to the surface of the moon. According to a report, the Canadian Space Agency has built what it claims will be the first AI tool in the world to reach beyond the low Earth orbit. This will be accomplished by sending the tool to the surface of the moon as part of a new mission.
A machine learning algorithm will be of assistance to a lunar rover that is being housed within the Hakuto-R lander as it searches the surface of the moon for minerals. Mission Control Space Services of Canada is responsible for the development of the technology (MCSS). The company collaborates with a wide variety of space-related bodies and research agencies all over the world.
The chief executive officer of Mission Control Space Services (MCSS), Ewan Reid, believes that if this is successful, the technology will play a significant role in NASA’s efforts to reach the moon. In addition to this, he stated that artificial intelligence would be an essential tool for enabling decision-making onboard spacecraft.
The Rashid rover’s navigation images will be transmitted to the MCSS by the Japanese lander, which is in charge of handling communication with Earth. Using the algorithm developed by the Canadian company, each pixel in the image will be categorised according to the type of terrain it contains.
In subsequent missions, humans will be removed from the “loop” once engineers are satisfied that the AI understands how to differentiate between the various minerals and recognises the difference between essential mission items such as rocks and craters.
On the moon, where there is only a limited amount of satellite bandwidth, AI can help scientists save money by only sharing the data, images, and videos that they require. In addition, the technology can be repurposed all throughout the solar system, including applications such as detecting “dark” ships on Earth that are attempting to sail without registration or filtering clouds out of images of planetary surfaces.
