AI for Aerospace
Project Darwin
Aerospace systems are becoming increasingly complex as missions grow and evolve.
To advance the complex system planning, design, engineering, and optimization, L10X initiated Project Darwin to explore AI applications for missions such as Mars settlement planning, lunar exploration, asteroid mining, In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM), and drone swarm missions.
Examples of AI for Aerospace
Hunting Asteroids to Save Earth
“What AI is good at is looking at a lot of data and making really fast analysis once it’s correctly trained,” explains Zigmond Leszczynski, Systems Director for The Aerospace Corporation’s Artificial Intelligence Analytics and Innovation Department. “If we can help humans sift through all that data and rapidly pick out of that star field what are the most important things, then we’re working with the humans and their system and giving them that boost.”
Read the full article here: Hunting Asteroids to Save Earth
Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson catalogs space objects. Credit: Catalina Sky Survey / U of A
Intelligent autonomy mission enabler
Solar Gravity Lens Mission
“The AI system CONOPS employs Intelligent Autonomy software to support constellation operations and complex maneuvers. To accomplish this, the AI system learns as it flies, with payload
tasking and prioritization, the AI architecture supports adaptive processing of mission data and
employs various levels of Intelligent Autonomy that is dependent upon mission needs (Figure 42).”
Read the full paper here: Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens Mission
Heuristic-based algorithm for design
Modeling, simulation, and visualization of aerocapture
The Aerocapture Simulation tool (ACAPS), developed from 1996 to 1998 in collaboration with NASA/Caltech JPL, is an early example of how AI-type applications for space can enhance a mission.
ACAPS features a heuristic-based 'Gamma function' that intelligently searches for optimal flight path angles for the vehicle to achieve a target apoapse altitude band within user-defined constraints. This tool provided valuable insight to Team X Mars mission planners at JPL's Project Design Center (PDC).
Read the full paper here: Modeling, simulation, and visualization of aerocapture
Artist concept of aerocapture, credit NASA