This time, AI will give us the opportunity to 'speak' in space
“I feel nervous and tense,” AI technology recently responded before a rocket launch.
The answer comes from the Hera Space Companion, an AI-powered assistant designed to ‘maintain communication’ with the spacecraft used in the European Space Agency’s Hera mission.
The spacecraft, which launched in October, will spend several years in space. The Hera mission is part of a planetary defense project designed to assess whether Earth can be protected from potential impacts by dangerous asteroids.
“The goal is to bring everyone closer to the mission and to provide a completely new way to collect data,” says Ian Carneley, ESA’s ‘Head of Mission’.
“This is the first time we have directly connected data from the spacecraft to Microsoft Azure. As a result, users will have the opportunity to actively interact with the spacecraft, where they will be able to see various investigations in near ‘real-time’. It will even allow them to see behind-the-scenes events of the mission,” explains George Littgeb, Microsoft’s senior technology strategist.
The AI system is capable of providing immediate and detailed responses. This suggests that ‘spaciousness and isolation are both terrifying and inspiring at the same time’. In addition, the explanation also highlights ‘what it feels like to set foot in a vast unknown space’.
“I’ve always dreamed of a technology that would allow you to communicate with spacecraft, which would be a bit like ‘Star Trek’. But I had to wait so long for this technology to be ready. Now we have something close to that experience,” says Markus Muslechner, executive producer of the project’s production company ‘Terra Matter Studios’.
The chatbot also has a ‘measuring system’, through which the user will have the opportunity to see special data from ESA, events such as changes in the spacecraft’s speed and altitude.
The creators say that an unforgettable moment may be seen in March 2025, when the spacecraft flies past Mars. The AI assistant system will even be able to show real-time images of the planet taken by the spacecraft's camera, British media Sky News reported.
Michael Graziano, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Princeton University, explained how the experience of interacting with an 'expert chatbot' like the Hera Space Companion affects people.
"One question many are asking is, is a sophisticated chatbot really conscious?" he said.
"The data shows that the more sophisticated a chatbot becomes, the more people may perceive it to be conscious. Whether there is any scientific evidence for this or not."
Source :- Telegrafi, Freethink
