. | . |
NASA develops AI for future exploration of extraterrestrial subsurface oceans by Tomasz Nowakowski for AstroWatch Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 25, 2017
NASA is developing technology which could enable autonomous navigation of future underwater drones studying subsurface oceans on icy moons like Jupiter's Europa. The agency is working on artificial intelligence (AI) that would allow submersibles to make their own decisions during exploration of extraterrestrial water worlds. Space exploration missions and astronomical observations in recent years have shown that our Solar System is abundant in water and could host at least several subsurface liquid oceans. The scientific community assumes that water exists beneath the crust of Europa, as well as on other icy moons like Saturn's Dione and Ganymede. Compelling evidence of hidden oceans on dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto has been also presented recently, proving that many mysteries may lie deep underground these frigid celestial bodies, waiting to be uncovered by underwater robotic explorers. NASA is aware of the emerging challenges that it must face if it wants to successfully explore subsurface oceans on Europa and other icy worlds. Such underwater drones would focus on searching for microbial life in this harsh environment which strongly impedes nominal communications with mission control on Earth. Therefore, the key issue here is to develop a highly-autonomous submarine-like probe capable of making decisions on their own in real-time in order to continue exploration and research uninterrupted. "Depending on the exact mission concept under consideration, autonomous underwater vehicles exploring ocean worlds will need to operate autonomously for days to months. Within this timeframe they must manage their own resources, explore a largely unknown environment, including navigating to and from a single point of insertion which also serves as a communications link to the outside world," Steve Chien of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) told Astrowatch.net. Chien leads the Artificial Intelligence Group at JPL which is currently developing AI for underwater drones. From August 26 to September 4, 2016, the team tested a fleet of coordinated drones in Monterey Bay, California, with the aim of detecting changes in temperature and salinity. The fleet that was tested includes three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), two ocean gliders, and one Tethys-class Long-Range AUV. The system is complemented by a 300-meter resolution ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) free-surface, terrain-following, primitive equationsocean model developed especially for this project and a suite of planning software. The software identifies the location of specific scientific targets based on the ROMS output and autonomously determines the optimal sampling strategy for a heterogeneous array of autonomous vehicles. During last year's test runs, the fleet of these six small submersibles sensed how the ocean actively changes around them what is essential for the development of autonomous navigation systems. The gliders were deployed earlier in the summer to provide over a month of data prior to the intensive field program. These tests were part of the team's continuous effort to design and plan future autonomous vehicles with the focus on further refining and demonstrating AI technologies. Next set of test runs is planned for the spring 2017. "We are developing mission concepts and developing some of the needed technologies as well as demonstrating technologies to Earth analogues and Earth science problems," Chien said. Given the fact that the main goal of future underwater drones exploring subsurface ocean would be looking for microbial lifeforms, Chien proposes that the probes should concentrate on searching for fissures in a planet's surface known as hydrothermal vents. These features that are commonly found on ocean basins are perceived as potential life supporting environments due to geothermally heated water they emit. Furthermore, more general characterization of such an alien underground watery world would be also needed as it is a totally unknown and unexplored realm. The team is convinced that their project will provide a framework for designing robotic missions to extraterrestrial ice covered oceans. "The vast majority of space exploration is conducted by robotic probes. Increasing the autonomy in future missions is essential to both increasing the effectiveness of space exploration as well as exploring more distant, challenging environments, such as sub-ice oceans," Chien concluded.
Related Links Astrowatch All about the robots on Earth and beyond!
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |