China uses AI to prevent spacecraft from colliding with space debris

To ensure the safety of spacecraft carrying out space missions, China is exploring the use of artificial intelligence to monitor the movement of space debris.

Led by scientists from the Xi’an Satellite Control Center, the project is one of more than a dozen projects approved this year by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, under an annual grant ‘worth 500 million yuan ($74 million) to ensure China’s leading role in AI technology.

“We will use our decades of expertise in space collision prevention and space debris mitigation, and bring together experts from across the country to meet China’s strategic needs.” Specifically, we will test AI models related to monitoring debris of different sizes, changes in the space debris environment, and situational awareness.Jiang Yu, lead researcher on the project, told the newspaper. Daily PLA.

This project is also supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), which began training AI to avoid orbital debris a few years ago. ESA has created a large dataset of historical collision warnings and asked the global AI community to help develop a system that will ultimately help spacecraft automatically avoid space debris .

The increasing amount of space debris poses a threat to space missions.

The increasing amount of space debris poses a threat to space missions. (Photo: UM)

Hundreds of millions of debris are believed to be orbiting Earth as a result of seven decades of international space exploration. Most of the pieces are parts from old satellites or used rockets and more than 36,000 pieces measure more than 10 cm in diameter.

Since space debris and spacecraft move at extremely high speeds, any collision – even with small pieces of debris – could cause serious damage to the spacecraft and potentially create more fragments.

Space clutter It is expected to get even worse as vast networks of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit continue to be built. For example, California-based SpaceX launches more satellites in a month than the previous annual total worldwide.

In a 2021 paper, researchers from the National University of Defense Technology of China said that the space environment is becoming too complex, dynamic and uncertain to be managed by conventional means. Traditional methods are based on human judgment. They believe that the use of AI technology can improve the speed and quality of information collection, processing and dissemination, while providing important support for a safe space environment.

China is also using AI to develop intelligent satellite networks for scientific research. For example, astrophysicists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are developing a group of at least 100 microsatellites to revolutionize our understanding of the universe’s most violent explosions.

Article source: VnExpress