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STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY
A new £1.5m international initiative led by Strathclyde University has funded the creation of a new Institute on AI for Space Sustainability, which will tackle space traffic management and debris – aiming to safeguard future missions
IT MAY seem an unlikely claim to make, but Professor Massimiliano Vasile is completely serious when he says space is running out of, well, space.
“Space is not as big as people might think,” explains the director of Strathclyde University’s Aerospace Centre of Excellence. “We rely on space services and applications – GPS, for example, and weather forecasting – which means we are launching more and more satellites into orbit.
“There has been a very fast increase in the private, commercial space sector, so there is more traffic and more space debris. It is going to reach a critical level soon. At that point, we won’t be able to launch anything and those services I mention won’t be possible.”
Professor Massimiliano Vasile
In a bid to tackle the problem, the pioneering centre is leading a £1.5m initiative to accelerate the development of AI technologies in space.
With a number of international partners, including the University of Arizona, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Waterloo in Canada, The Alan Turing Institute and commercial space companies LMO and GMV in the UK, Nominal Systems in Australia and Columbiad in Canada, researchers plan to develop cutting-edge technologies for the space sector through the new Institute on AI for Space Safety and Sustainability.
The year-long project comes under the second phase of the £20 million International Bilateral Fund investments by the UK Space Agency, which will help UK organisations link up with global experts. “Space sustainability is one of the most compelling technological challenges we have at the moment,” explains Professor Vasile.
“The idea for the institute came about because AI is growing in every sector, and we wanted to understand how it could help our sustainable use of space. Some of the satellites we launch into space are there because we want to be more sustainable on Earth, to use fewer resources, and have a lower impact on climate. Unfortunately, that means we are extracting resources from Earth and launching them into space; and then leaving them there as space junk.”
Space debris – left-over items from previous missions – is a huge problem, with the UK Space Agency estimating that millions of these objects, from old satellites to astronauts’ toothbrushes, are orbiting the planet. Almost 37,000 of them are larger than 10cm and an estimated 130 million measure less than one cm.
The institute plans to use machine learning, a form of AI, to help predict the motion of space objects, reducing the risk of collisions and improving space flight safety. Professor Vasile says safety, and the reliability and robustness of AI, are key to the work of the institute. He explains: “One of our goals is to change the way we use and understand AI.
“There are two elements which are extremely important: firstly, we need to lower the risk. It is not that we want to anticipate everything that AI does, but whatever it is doing, it needs to be safe and reduce the risk for every space asset.
“The other important point is that the institute will explain what AI does. This lowers the barrier between human beings and AI because often it is unclear exactly what AI does or might do.”
AI can improve the automaton of space traffic, he adds, in a similar way to self-driving cars, for example. “Road traffic is regulated, air traffic even more so, but space traffic is unfortunately not as regulated,” says Professor Vasile.
“We operate satellites remotely, no-one is up there driving them, so automation can help by helping operators to make informed decisions, to lower the risk of collisions. Also, it can sometimes be difficult to understand what has happened to a satellite when it ‘misbehaves’ – AI can help us to classify and characterise what we are observing.”
One of the key goals of the institute is to accelerate the development of tech and new concepts to adoption in the space sector.
“The institute has the knowledge and expertise to help individuals and companies develop their ideas,” says Professor Vasile.“We will also support governments, for example, in deciding how to license or insure new missions, so they understand the risks and global impact on the space environment.”
The institute will also provide consultancy and entrepreneurial services, and training in how to use AI technology in space. It is an international collaboration between industry, academic research institutions and government bodies, with nine partners across four countries already on board.
“There are many ways to engage with us, we are open to collaboration with anyone who wants to become a member and support the growth of the institute,” says Professor Vasile.
“The UK is championing sustainability internationally, and what the institute wants to provide is that ability to continue using space in the long term, but also support new innovative ideas and concepts that will contribute to a sustainable space.”
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