
Spacecraft on autopilot
Scientists are looking at making smarter spacecraft, which would rely
less on human inputs while in space.
For example, a future space mission to Titan, Saturn's intriguing
(interesting) moon enveloped in clouds, might deploy a blimp to float
around the thick atmosphere and survery the sand dunes and valleys
below. But the blimp's ability to communicate would be limited.
A message would take about an hour and a half to travel more than 800
million miles to Earth, and any response would take another hour and a
half to get to Titan. Three hours would be a long time to wait if the
message were: "Help! I'm caught in a downdraft. What do I do?" And if
the blimp were to spot something unusual, such as an eruption of an ice
volcano, it might have drifted away before it received the command to
"take a closer look".

A blimp on Titan (left), and a rover that changes shape to
navigate rough
terrain (land).
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In such cases, spacecraft with artificial intelligence can think for
themselves. "These technologies are already in operation on specific
missions", said Steve Chien, a scientist who heads the artificial
intelligence group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California.
Until recently, interplanetary robotic explorers have largely been
marionettes (puppets) of mission controllers back on Earth. The
controllers sent instructions, and the spacecraft diligently (carefully)
executed them. But as missions go farther and become more ambitious,
long-distance puppetry becomes less and less practical.
NASA's two rovers now on Mars - the Spirit and the Opportunity, also
possess a measure of thinking ability. As they drive, the rovers use
stereo cameras to judge the distance and size of rocks in their paths in
order to figure out how to manoeuvre around obstacles.
"It picks the safest path that gets it closer to its goal", said Mark
W. Maimone, a member of the team working on the rovers' software.
The New York Times
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Think smart
The need for smarter spacecraft has grown as missions have gone
farther and become more complex.
Spacecraft that can think for themselves will therefore be less of a
burden in space missions.
NASA's rovers on Mars possess some thinking ability.
The face of King Tut
King Tutankhamun had a pointy head, a prominent nose and a rounded
forehead with large eyes. He was about 19 when he died, and apparently
he was not murdered, as earlier research had suggested.
"He was supposed to be an iconic individual, and it was probably
important that he look the part", New York University physical
anthropologist (person who studies origin and history of mankind), Susan
Anton said. "It's interesting that he looks so striking".
She led one of three forensic (used in law courts) teams which used a
scan of King Tut's mummified remains to reconstruct the head and face of
the boy pharaoh.
Two of the teams - one Egyptian and one French - knew his identity,
while Dr. Anton's American team did not. The three sets of results,
however, were surprisingly similar, agreeing on King Tut's unusual and
arresting mix of male and female facial features. The study was reported
in the June edition of National Geographic magazine.
Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of
Antiquites and leader of the team that performed the CT scan in January,
said in a press statement that the team found no signs of childhood
disease, malnutrition or prolonged illness in King Tut, and no evidence
of "foul play".
A report by Hawass in March rejected a theory that King Tut died from
a blow to the head. Instead, King Tut suffered a bad fracture just above
the left knee a few days before he died, he said, and "it is possible
this injury became infected and killed the king".
King Tutankhamun, pharaoh of Egypt's 18th dynasty, died around
1323BC. He was buried in a tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings near
Luxor.
Washington Post |