AI in Space (Deep Space 1)

sConner writes: "I know the CNN 2001 articles were mentioned, but I believe this one deserves special mention. It's a little piece about the role of AI on one of NASA's unmanned spacecraft currently in operation. Not much detail, but Deep Space 1 seems like a nifty fellow!" I'm not sure this merits the title "artificial intelligence", but it is impressive nonetheless.

DS 1's biggest problem...

[jd]

...is HS (Human Stupidity). The ion drive failed because bits of metal got caught in the system. Oh, gosh! Just like on all the test systems they built and ran on Earth!

Mess things up once - that can happen to anyone. Nobody's perfect. (Or even close.)

Mess things up the same way, repeatedly, in the hope that the next time it'll be different - that takes a brand of relentless pursuit of futility that few can achieve.

Re:DS 1's biggest problem...

[wozzeck_berg]

I agree. It seems that NASA (and for that matter even the DOD) is too concerned with public opinion when desgning its craft, etc. I mean, their budget has been cut, they are loosing prestige among politicians and they nolonger have such a monopolistic control of space. One would think under these circumstances they would try and make successful missions. Even though DS1 is an experimental craft, isn't it more prudent to conduct basic experiments that lead to more complex, outlandish ones? I mean, the "AI" aboard is pretty damn cool in and of itself, did they have to tack on an ion engine too? Especially if they have rutinely failed both on earth AND on satellites? NASA needs to wake up and stop reaching so far...at least until they are ready. The whole thing reminds me of the new Missle Defence fiasco.

Deep Space 1 Links

[chrissam]

JPL's web pages on DS1 [nasa.gov] are pretty detailed. Lots of interesting stuff here, especially the Mission Logs [nasa.gov] (latest one here [nasa.gov]) written with reasonable detail and considerable humor by Marc Rayman (quoted in the CNN article).

Particularly cool are pictures [nasa.gov] of the ion propulsion system at work!

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Comment on 2001

[cronik]

If I remeber my sci-fi (and I damned well should) HAL was programed with 2 seprate and conflicting primary mission objectives. He then suffered failures in his ability to make dicisions. Then he kicked back into "save my own a**" mode, and killed the people who would shut him down. No "emotions taking over" as mentioned in the article.

And then Snake commented on the Mid East deal

[Bojay Iverson]

Rayman says this kind of independent thinking becomes more important as spacecraft wander further out into the solar system.

Erm, when did we start asking videogame characters for their opinion?