China brings artificial intelligence to space: Self-directed AI satellites launched

Bringing artificial intelligence + moon directly into orbit, China has successfully launched two new satellites that are self-managing and capable of producing weather forecasts in space. The goal is to establish an AI network of a thousand satellites by 2032. Artificial intelligence technologies are slowly moving beyond Earth's borders.

China has taken a remarkable step in bringing decision-making and data processing processes directly into orbit with the two artificial intelligence-supported satellites it sent into space this week. China's Long March 15 carrier rocket was successfully launched this week. Five satellites were placed into orbit within the scope of the mission, which was carried out with the "one rocket, five satellites" configuration.

Two of these satellites are AI guided satellites. The biggest feature that distinguishes them from others is that they can make most of the important decisions on their own in space, instead of sending data to Earth and waiting for instructions from ground stations. The first of these artificial intelligence-based satellites is Jitianxing A-04 (Yunjian Muxi).

This satellite carries infrared sensors to detect anomalies on Earth, such as forest fires. What really makes it different is the way it works. Jitianxing A-04 incorporates the "embodied AI" model developed by Zhejiang Lab.

Thanks to this model, the satellite can constantly monitor its own system health, plan its missions, and perform operations alone or in coordination with other satellites when necessary. The second AI-guided satellite launched as part of the mission was the Xinghuo Chuanming Meteorological Satellite. This satellite carries three different meteorological artificial intelligence models and aims to radically change weather forecasting processes. In the traditional system, meteorological satellites collect atmospheric data and transmit them to the Earth.

The data is processed at ground stations, combined with different sources, and a forecast is created after applying various corrections. This process can take approximately 90 minutes. The new satellite carries out most of this process directly in space.

The artificial intelligence models on it process the data after receiving it and create the weather forecast in orbit. Only final forecast results are sent to Earth. Thus, the time from observation to early warning can be reduced to seconds.

New Features Can Be Added to the Satellite by Constantly Updated Artificial Intelligence. One of the remarkable features of this satellite is that the large artificial intelligence model it uses can be updated during the mission. According to the information eering, traditional satellites work with the software they were sent to space with during the production phase, throughout their mission life. In the new system, a new artificial intelligence model trained on Earth can be loaded directly to the orbiting satellite the next day.

Thus, the satellite's capabilities can be continuously improved during the mission without the need for new hardware. On the other hand, it is stated that some structural parts of the satellite were designed with the help of artificial intelligence.