AI: NASA Is Using Artificial Intelligence To Develop New Technologies

NASA has been working with IBM for the longest time and their new collaborative project using Watson's artificial intelligence will put aerospace technology development into new heights.

Network World reported that NASA is currently using IBM's Watson machine learning system, which has already been used for healthcare and cybersecurity purposes, to advance its aerospace technology. The space agency is currently testing a number of its projects with the system to develop new directions for future space missions.

This recent work is under NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where the machine learning system enables the agency's aerospace engineers to study and create new technologies.

Watson's AI system will be a huge help for NASA on its difficult missions. Its uses include a quicker way to study and develop new technologies for long-duration space travels such as its upcoming mission to Mars. The system could also aid the mission's operational requirements as well as its needs for maintenance and healthcare for astronauts.

Furthermore, this system could also help in managing routine missions from Earth to the International Space Station (ISS) and back.

"Watson digests as much research as it possibly can to help the NASA experts looking to develop complex hypothis'," said IBM Watson Group's Distinguished Engineer Chris Codella, who works with the Langley team.

According to Space.com, one of NASA's current projects is to study how commercial airline technicians and pilots get any needed information from the system in real time. Watson is self-learning all the flight information from operations manuals to answer important questions from pilots whenever they need to make sudden decisions.

"That was the initial emphasis here: Have a system that could read it all, make sense of it all," Codella added. "The number of documents Watson could read is in principle unlimited."

Artificial intelligence does make life easier for humans on Earth and, eventually, in outer space.