NASA Mars Rovers Use AI to Navigate and Explore the Red Planet
-
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses AI for autonomous navigation and planning in Mars rovers like Perseverance. The rovers rely heavily on autonomous systems to navigate unknown terrain.
-
AI is used to identify geological features of interest to photograph and study further. Novelty detection helps find new things not seen before.
-
Simulations and digital twins help train AI systems and human operators prior to using them on Mars. This allows testing systems without real-world risk.
-
AI has evolved Mars rover interfaces over time, allowing humans to focus more on high-level goals and intuition while AI handles lower-level tasks.
-
Lessons from NASA's incremental approach to AI adoption and risk tolerance could benefit organizations adopting AI on Earth. Practices like shadowing trainees parallel common corporate strategies.