Week 16

SEEING AI IN SPACE
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

OBJECTIVES:
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Observing the Universe

A Dutch eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey is credited with

inventing a telescope (which at that time, in about 1600, was
called Dutch perspective glasses). Scientists such as the Italian
astronomer Galileo Galilei immediately began to scan the skies
with something more than their eyes.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Seeing clearly for the first time

One way to avoid earth’s atmosphere is to put your telescope in

space. However, this approach is a little on the expensive side, and
maintenance can become a nightmare. Most people observing the
heavens need another alternative, such as a telescope that can
adjust for the blurring action of the earth’s atmosphere by
warping the telescope’s mirror
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Finding new places to go

Before the eighteenth century, people were tied to the surface of

the earth, but they still gazed at the heavens and dreamed.
Humans tried all sorts of odd experiments, such as tower jumping
but before hot air balloons, any sort of true flight seemed out of
reach.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Considering the evolution of the universe

Humans have stared at the universe for a long time and still have
no real idea of precisely what the universe is, except to know that
we live in it. Of course, the observations continue, but the essence
of the universe is still a huge unknown.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Creating new scientific principles

Ultimately, the research that humans perform in learning more

about space, the local solar system, the galaxy, and the universe
must pay some dividend. Otherwise, no one will want to continue
funding it.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Performing Space Mining

Space mining has received more than a little attention in the media and the
scientific community as well.

Harvesting water

Water covers about 71 percent of the earth. In fact, the earth has so much
water that we often find it difficult to keep it out of places where we don’t
want it.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Obtaining rare earths and other metals

Mining has always been dirty, but some mining is much dirtier than other
mining, and rare earths fall into that category.

Finding new elements

The periodic table that contains a list of all available elements has received
a number of updates over the years.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Enhancing communication

Any undertaking in space that is as complex as mining requires

the use of advanced communications. Even if the probes and
robots used for mining include deep- learning capability to handle
most of the minor and some of the major incidents that will occur
during the mining process, humans will still need to solve
problems that the AI can’t.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Exploring New Places

Space is vast. Humans are unlikely to ever explore it all. Anyone

who tells you that all the frontiers are gone has obviously not
looked up at the sky. Even the sci-fi authors seem to think that the
universe will continue to hold places to explore for humans.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Starting with the probe

Humans have already starting putting probes out everywhere to

explore everything. In fact, using probes is actually older than
many people think. As early as 1916, Dr. Robert H. Goddard, an
American rocket pioneer, calculated that a rocket could be sent to
the moon with an explosive payload that could be seen from earth.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Relying on robotic missions

Humans aren’t likely to ever actually visit a planet directly as a

means of learning more about it, sci-fi books and movies
notwithstanding. It makes more sense to send robots to planets to
discover whether sending humans there is even worth the time,
because robots are less expensive and easier to deploy.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Adding the human element

Humans want to visit other places beyond Earth. Of course, the

only place that we’ve actually visited is the moon. The first such
visit occurred on July 20, 1969, with the Apollo 11 mission. Since
then, people have landed on the moon six times, ending with the
Apollo 17 flight on December 7, 1972.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Building Structures in Space

Just visiting space won’t be enough at some point. The reality of

space travel is that everything is located so far from everything
else that we need waypoints between destinations. Even with
waypoints, space travel will require serious effort. However, the
waypoints are important even today.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Taking your first space vacation

Companies have promised space vacations for some time now.

Performing scientific investigation

A lot of scientific investigation already occurs in space, all of which

is currently aided by AI in some way.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Industrializing space

Making space travel pay comes in several forms. Humans already

enjoy considerable benefits from technologies developed for
space flight and adopted for civilian use here on Earth.
WEEK 16: SEEING AI IN SPACE

Using space for storage

People will eventually store some items in space, and that makes
sense. As space travel becomes more prevalent and humans begin
industrializing space; the need to store items such as fuel and
mined materials will increase.