Artificial Intelligence (AI) has proven to be a versatile tool with applications in a variety of fields, including accelerating drug discovery in the medical field, preventing financial fraud, pioneering materials research, etc. For the first time, AI is making its presence felt outside Earth, and its deployment on Mars marks a major technological leap.
NASA recently announced that AI is helping scientists identify minerals within rocks in their work with the Perseverance Mars rover. While we're still some way away from “smart” spacecraft becoming a reality, the progress made by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover essentially represents a promising step in that direction.
NASA says the mission has been testing AI to identify minerals in Martian rocks on Earth for nearly three years, but this will be the first time the Mars rover Perseverance will use AI to autonomously determine a rock's composition, marking a pivotal moment in planetary exploration.
What AI software is used and how does it work?
The AI software powering the exploration supports PIXL (Planetary X-ray Lithochemistry Instrument), a spectrometer developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that maps the chemical composition of minerals on rock surfaces, helping scientists determine whether rocks formed in Mars' ancient past under conditions that could support microbial life.
AI-powered “adaptive sampling” software automatically positions instruments near rock targets and analyzes scans of the targets to find minerals worth exploring deeper — all of this happens in real time, without the rover needing to communicate with mission controllers on Earth, according to NASA.
“We use PIXL's AI to focus on the science that matters,” said Abigail Allwood, the instrument's principal investigator at JPL. “Without AI, we might find a hint of something interesting in the data, but would have to rescan the rock to learn more. The AI enables PIXL to reach conclusions without humans inspecting the data.”
The system will be improved through machine learning to automatically hone in on interesting minerals, and based on Perseverance's analysis, scientists will decide when to “pack” the samples to return to Earth.
Perseverance isn't the only AI-equipped rover on Mars
AI also plays a key role in the operation of the Curiosity rover, located about 3,700 kilometers from Perseverance, which uses AI to uniquely select and analyze rocks using lasers and to examine vaporized material to determine their chemical composition.
Notably, Perseverance takes this technology even further by employing even more advanced AI systems for autonomous navigation. While both rovers will still require human oversight, these AI capabilities will greatly improve efficiency and scientific output, allowing scientists to accomplish more tasks in less time.
NASA recently announced that AI is helping scientists identify minerals within rocks in their work with the Perseverance Mars rover. While we're still some way away from “smart” spacecraft becoming a reality, the progress made by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover essentially represents a promising step in that direction.
NASA says the mission has been testing AI to identify minerals in Martian rocks on Earth for nearly three years, but this will be the first time the Mars rover Perseverance will use AI to autonomously determine a rock's composition, marking a pivotal moment in planetary exploration.
What AI software is used and how does it work?
The AI software powering the exploration supports PIXL (Planetary X-ray Lithochemistry Instrument), a spectrometer developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that maps the chemical composition of minerals on rock surfaces, helping scientists determine whether rocks formed in Mars' ancient past under conditions that could support microbial life.
Expanding
AI-powered “adaptive sampling” software automatically positions instruments near rock targets and analyzes scans of the targets to find minerals worth exploring deeper — all of this happens in real time, without the rover needing to communicate with mission controllers on Earth, according to NASA.
“We use PIXL's AI to focus on the science that matters,” said Abigail Allwood, the instrument's principal investigator at JPL. “Without AI, we might find a hint of something interesting in the data, but would have to rescan the rock to learn more. The AI enables PIXL to reach conclusions without humans inspecting the data.”
The system will be improved through machine learning to automatically hone in on interesting minerals, and based on Perseverance's analysis, scientists will decide when to “pack” the samples to return to Earth.
Perseverance isn't the only AI-equipped rover on Mars
AI also plays a key role in the operation of the Curiosity rover, located about 3,700 kilometers from Perseverance, which uses AI to uniquely select and analyze rocks using lasers and to examine vaporized material to determine their chemical composition.
Notably, Perseverance takes this technology even further by employing even more advanced AI systems for autonomous navigation. While both rovers will still require human oversight, these AI capabilities will greatly improve efficiency and scientific output, allowing scientists to accomplish more tasks in less time.
