What is AI? (Grades 5-8)

NASA STEM Team

Contents

• Perseverance is using autonomous navigation to quickly drive to features of scientific interest. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

  How is NASA using AI?

  NASA has found uses for AI in many of its missions and programs.

  For missions to the Moon, AI can use satellite imagery to create detailed 3D maps of dark craters. This data could help scientists plan missions, spot hazards, and even identify where future crews might find water ice. On Mars, the Perseverance rover uses AI to drive itself autonomously. It takes pictures of the ground, sees obstacles, and chooses the safest path.

  AI also helps NASA search for planets outside our solar system. For example, AI has helped citizen scientists find over 10,000 pairs of binary stars. These pairs orbit each other and block each other’s light. This information could help scientists search for new planets and learn more about how stars form.

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  Words to Know

  Autonomous: acting or operating independently, without external control. An autonomous technology can perform duties without human intervention.

  Citizen scientist: a member of the public, often a volunteer, who collects data that can be used by scientists. When members of the public participate in research in this way, it’s called citizen science.

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  NASA also uses AI to support its work on Earth.  The agency uses AI to aid disaster relief efforts during and after natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. For example, AI can count tarps on roofs in satellite images to measure damage after a storm. NASA is also supporting flight controllers and pilots by using AI to plan better flight routes, making air travel safer and more efficient. 

  AI is helping NASA explore space, protect people, and make amazing discoveries!

  The blue tentacle-like arms containing gecko-like adhesive pads, attaBlue tentacle-like arms with gecko-like adhesive pads reach out and grapple a “capture cube” inside the International Space Station. The arms are attached to the cube-shaped Astrobee robotic free-flyer, right. The experimental grippers demonstrated techniques to autonomously perform tasks in low Earth orbit. NASA

  Advice From NASA AI Experts

  “AI is a great field for people who like solving problems, building things, or asking questions about how the world works. People use AI to help doctors understand diseases, to teach robots how to explore space,  and to help communities prepare for things like floods or wildfires. If you like using technology to help people and discover new things, AI could be a great career for you!” – Krista Kinnard, NASA’s Deputy Chief AI Officer

  In this illustration, astronauts work on the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis program. NASA

  Career Corner

  NASA roles that may involve AI include:  
  Astronauts: Astronauts on the International Space Station can use an AI “digital assistant” to get medical recommendations. This is helpful when communication with Earth is interrupted. It could also be useful on future missions to distant destinations like Mars.
  Engineers: Engineers can use AI to help them generate designs for things like new spacecraft.
  Astronomers: AI helps astronomers analyze satellite and deep space telescope data to find stars and exoplanets.
  Meteorologists: Weather experts can use machine learning to make climate projections.
  Programmers: Programmers can use AI to update code used in older missions, bringing it up to modern standards.
  IT professionals: AI can enable IT experts to understand outages across NASA, allowing them to get programs back up and running faster.
  Program managers: Program managers can use AI to plan and model NASA missions.

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