The Overview — Trust
The Overview — Trust
Fueling the next generation of aerospace engineers
Trust
A firm belief in the reliability, ability, or strength of something
Welcome back to The Overview! In this latest edition, we're diving deep into the concept of trust in space. Can we really trust Artificial Intelligence in space? Can we rely on Boeing’s Starliner to bring astronauts safely down to Earth? What does it mean for humans to live and work on Mars for an extended time?
🤖 Dive into Isaac’s story about artificial intelligence systems and whether or not we can truly trust them in space 👀
📰 Catch up on the latest aerospace news, including updates on the Boeing Starliner, the Polaris Dawn Crew from SpaceX, and a recent Falcon 9 landing failure
🤖 Featured Technology
Trusting Artificial Intelligence…in Space
Isaac discusses the expansive applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in space, focusing on Deep Reinforcement Learning, an exciting method for creating intelligent machines inspired by the complexity of biological brains. 🧠
But how can we trust these intelligent machines to make decisions if we imbue machines with intelligence by imitating complex biological systems that we don’t fully understand? Can we rely on intelligence that we don’t fully comprehend? How can we trust them… in space?
Isaac provides a framework for thinking about all these problems, focusing on using simple solutions (where possible), keeping humans in the loop, and interrogating complex methods for improved interpretability. Dive into the full article below to find out more!
🗞️ Aerospace News
The aerospace industry is as bustling as ever! Here’s a rapid rundown of the major happenings in the last few weeks.
Starliner is Returning Empty
Since Starliner began having issues with its thrusters a few months ago, NASA faced a tough decision: should it bring its astronauts back with a higher risk of something going wrong when returning on Starliner?
After many weeks, we finally got a decision: Starliner will be returning home empty. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will continue to stay on the International Space Station until February when they will eventually return with the SpaceX Crew 9 mission, which is now going to launch with just two astronauts, leaving two seats open.
This news about “stranded astronauts” has taken the media by storm. But they are, in fact, just extending their test mission duration and are safe on the International Space Station. Starliner is still a demo vehicle, so let’s hope it comes back to Earth in one piece and they can look into the issues that increased risk. Human safety should triumph over all decisions.
Polaris Dawn Crew: Expanding Knowledge of Human Health in Space
It’s a busy time for human spaceflight, and the multi-day Polaris Dawn mission has gotten everyone excited for the first private spacewalk! We’ve not seen SpaceX perform a spacewalk independently before, so this mission will see a brand-new airlock on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, along with some slick-looking EVA suits.
Polaris Dawn will conduct many experiments to understand human physical ability in microgravity environments, including wearing crazy contact lenses to monitor their intraocular pressure. This mission will also reach the highest altitude humans have reached since the Apollo missions!
Polaris Dawn is intended to be the first of many missions to develop the understanding of spaceflight for longer-term Mars missions. This exciting mission is currently scheduled for Friday, September 6th.
A Failed Falcon 9 Landing
One of the events that caused Polaris Dawn to get delayed was the unexpected failure of a Falcon 9 first-stage landing as the booster hit the droneship and toppled over. This was the first failure of a first-stage landing in 267 missions, which would have been unheard of a few years ago. The booster that crashed was B1062, which had a record-breaking 23 missions, including the Inspiration4 manned mission.
This incident highlights that even well-established procedures in spaceflight carry significant risks. Falcon 9 was briefly grounded but soon returned to service, already completing several successful missions.
💬 Quote of the Week
“Trust, but verify.” — Ronald Reagan
Thanks for touching down with us for The Overview—The Trust edition. Until next time—stay calibrated and trust the process! 🤝
Stellar vibes,
Tagg, Anshuk, Maggie, Isaac ✨