ChatGPT as a guide to become a Citizen Astronaut

16

October

2023

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Have you ever thought of flying to space? Usually, only highly trained and well-skilled individuals get the chance to live this exciting experience. Space agencies like NASA or ESA are recruiting, training, and sending them to space. Among the many requirements to apply to become a NASA astronaut, there is U.S. citizenship, a Master’s degree, or equivalent experience in a STEM field (NASA, 2023). Even after fulfilling these conditions, there are thousands of people sharing the same dream. Only in the class of 2021, NASA had to choose 10 individuals from the pool of 12,000 applications (Rosa-Aquino, 2022), whereas ESA chose 5 career-astronauts from the amount of around 22,000 valid applications (ESA, 2022).

However, as the space industry is growing, the access to space also starts opening its doors to more people. Previously focused mainly on science and exploration, now another goal is to democratize space and let humans experience “The Overview effect” with programs such as Space for Humanity. The program expects a passion and a captivating story from the applicants wanting to become a Citizen Astronaut.

But what do tools like ChatGPT or Generative AI as a whole have to do with this matter?

They equip us with possibilities of preparation and serve as a source of ideas and knowledge that can bring everyone closer to flying to space. Starting with a basic space knowledge, needed preparation and creating a plan on how to train like an astronaut, all of these examples can be provided with just a prompt.

I personally asked ChatGPT to help me better understand how rockets work, how does the usual rocket launch look like and to provide me with more information about orbits and microgravity. Here is a short comprehensive lesson that it has provided me with.

Of course, there is also a ton of materials online that could possibly even better and more reliably serve as a guidance. However, Generative AI Large Language Models can provide a personalised experience on gaining the basic knowledge and planning various activities. And that’s only one of many applications shared from my interest, where AI can become a personal guide and a first step to exploring a new passion.

References

NASA. (2023, July 25). Astronaut requirements. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/general/astronaut-requirements

Rosa-Aquino, P. (2022, November 25). Here’s how NASA determines which applicants make it to be astronauts. ScienceAlert. https://www.sciencealert.com/heres-how-nasa-determines-which-applicants-make-it-to-be-astronauts 

ESA. (2022, February 10). Final figures show astronaut applicants from all ESA member states. https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/ESA_Astronaut_Selection/Final_figures_show_astronaut_applicants_from_all_ESA_Member_States 

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2001: A Space Odyssey

8

October

2020

2001-gif

I’m Sorry Dave. I’m Afraid I Can’t Let You Do That.

2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is regarded as one of the most influential and important art works of the 20th century, not just in cinema history but in art in general. 2001 explores mankind’s relationship to evolution, existentialism, space, technology, and artificial intelligence. It has been 52 years since the film’s release, but some of its themes are more relevant than ever before. Let’s explore.

Kubrick’s vision
kubrick
Although science fiction films typically underestimate how long it will take for technology to catch up with their visions of the future, much of Kubrick’s vision in 1968 has since come true. It was Kubrick’s goal to depict space travel, personal electronic devices, and computer technology in the most feasible, practical and believable way. He consulted NASA engineers who were involved with the Apollo space program to put a man on the moon (succeeding 1 year after the film was released. Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon in 1969).

2001 is closer to you than you realise. Whether Kubrick was successful in his quest to depict his 1968 technological vision in a feasible, practical and believable way, will become more clear when looking at just some of the many examples:

iPad
Ipad2001

More than 40 years before Steve Jobs launched the iPad, Kubrick offered viewers already a glimpse of the future iPad. Kubrick correctly envisioned how such a sophisticated device would seamlessly be incorporated into day-to-day life. Samsung actually defended itself in a lawsuit against Apple in 2011, claiming their Galaxy Tablet wasn’t a copy of the iPad, but rather inspired by 2001.

iPhone
Iphone2001

The undeniable source of inspiration for Apple’s iPhone: the Monolith from 2001. The comparison is not only visually striking. Just like the introduction of the Monolith in the film, the iPhone allowed humankind to evolve to the next level in terms of connectivity and technology. Both items are used for telecommunications and are activated by human touch. Coincidence?

Artificial Intelligence and the Blackbox
HAL

Absolutely the star of the film: the HAL 9000. This super AI has never made a mistake and is therefore trusted with controlling this important mission. During Wednesday’s open lecture, Ting Li touched on the topic of Blackbox when it comes to AI. This means, an AI system taking unexpected actions. It is considered one of the biggest fears of companies using AI. This challenge and the possible consequences are perfectly displayed in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Without giving away any spoilers, I hope that AI developers take a close look at the film and take lessons from what Kubrick envisioned.

Tip: ask your Siri or Alexa the following question: “Open the pod bay doors”…

Conclusion
It is safe to say 2001 is one of the most important films ever created. In my eyes it is an absolute masterpiece. This is not even taking into account the philosophical aspects of the story or the innovative new film techniques used, but already solely looking at the envisioned technologies at display. It is mind blowing when you realise that this film was made prior to a man ever setting foot on the moon, more than 50 years ago. Kubrick envisioned a world filled with technologies that are currently all around us. In addition, it is hard to deny how this film has influenced a lot of the tech world leaders. From Steve Jobs, to Elon Musk. Hopefully those leaders use the film to improve their own products, both in design and in structure.

Have you seen 2001?
Did you manage to see beyond its slower pace?
Any technological films you can recommend us?
I am interested to hear your thoughts.

SPACE2001


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Space garbage, how to take out the trash orbiting earth?

1

October

2017

5/5 (1)

“Space junk isn’t just dangerous to astronauts, it could trigger a WORLD WAR: Collisions between satellites and debris ‘risk sparking conflicts between nations'” – Dailymail, 2017

Over 60 years of space travel the amount of ‘space junk’ in orbit has increased significantly, to the point where it is now even becoming dangerous. Experts suggest that we should this take this problem very seriously, as if it continues on like this, according to the Kessler syndrome scenario, the atmosphere around earth might be so clogged with space debris that no vehicle could leave earth any longer.  The problem is that there is so much junk flying around at such a high speed, which is left over by space missions, satellites, or other space items, that space missions now already have to pay close attention to their flight route, to make sure not to hit too many debris and damage their spaceship or satellite.

Satellite data and space exploration is extremely important to the future of technology and science, and if we want to avoid many collisions in the future, space debris have to be cleaned up in some way. New international space guidelines are already in place that state any new satellites going into orbit should automatically leave earth’s orbit after 25 years, so new technology might not leave as much debris as older technologies. Another way that has been proposed is the ‘laser broom’, which is a giant laser beam shot from earth to sweep space debris between 1 and 10 cm. NASA has proposed this idea in the late 90s, but so far nothing has come to fruition of it.

In conclusion, space debris are a very serious problem that almost no one knows about, but could become increasingly harmful in the future. My hope is that with new guidelines most future space debris will leave earth’s orbit, and hopefully technologies such as the laser broom or new innovations might be able to help clean up what previous generations have left behind in space.

What do you think? Did you ever hear of space debris being a problem before? Do you think researchers are right when they say it poses a great threat, or do you think they are overreacting? I would love to hear your opinion!

On this website you can play around in 3D and see the amount of space debris visualized with a 3D map of Earth and space.

Read more:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/debris-00a.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_broom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3419432/Space-junk-isn-t-just-dangerous-astronauts-trigger-WORLD-WAR-Collisions-satellites-debris-risk-sparking-conflicts-nations.html

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Commercial cargo, crew transportation and other space related business initiatives

18

September

2016

5/5 (4) In the last decade developments show that the commercialization of space exploration is a reality. The effort and capital pioneers invest in this ambitious industry comes from curiosity and dreaming about the unknown. Discovering places and going where no human being ever went. The endeavors by pioneers is not solely based on curiosity. There are other incentives to go after space related business initiatives. Possibilities on the horizon of the revitalized industry are (Pelton, 2010):

  • solar power satellites; harness clean solar energy in space and beaming it to earth
  • commercial spaceplanes and space stations; citizen astronauts get the opportunity to enter space.
  • innovative new space technology; cost-effective ways to explore the moon, sun and planets. Solve communication, climate and energy problems.
  • mining commodities on celestial bodies;
  • new visions; space research is all about the unknown potential and innovations that can change the direction of humankind.

Information and new technology made the market accessible. It will stimulate the development of the market and economy. In order to be successful in space, NASA and private companies made agreements about sharing information. The agreements are designed to create a transportation system for cargo and crew from earth to space (Stone et al., 2008). This collaboration can result in business network-based value creation. Another association who tries to benefit from a network is the Breakthrough Initiatives. They strive to accomplish other goals in space (Breakthrough Initiatives, 2016). These two gird examples have to conform to condition formation, demand and stability in order to create more value than without the network (Kauffman et al., 2010).

The industry is emerging, full of possibilities and therefore interesting to test with the theory of newly vulnerable markets. The space industry is (1) newly easy to enter because of regulatory changes within the US government and NASA. These empowered new entrants. Technology improved significantly. This reduced the cost and barriers of entering. There is a change in preferences among consumers. More and more individuals like the idea of space travel as citizen astronauts. The market is (2) attractive to attack because of earlier mentioned curiosity by visionary pioneers and the opportunity of abnormal profits. Private enterprises can target on profitable aspects of the business and neglect the less profitable. Due to the opportunistic pickoff, the focus on the profitable prospects is an advantages in addition to governmental organizations. The space business may be (in the future) (3) difficult to defend. Which suggest that incumbents fail to effectively counteract to threats of new entrants. Newcomers in the business tackle existing price structures, strategic inflexibility, lack of vision and legacy systems. All these conditions give entrants an opportunity to prosper, but realize that the industry becomes less enticing after the first round of prosperous invasion. (Granados et al., 2008)

 

References:

Breakthrough Initiatives. (2016, April 12). Retrieved September 14, 2016, from http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/4

Granados, N. F., Kauffman, R. J., & King, B. (2008). How has electronic travel distribution been transformed? A test of the theory of newly vulnerable markets. Journal of Management Information Systems, 25(2), 73-96.

Kauffman, R. J., Li, T., & Van Heck, E. (2010). Business network-based value creation in electronic commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 15(1), 113-144.

Pelton, J. N. (2010). A new space vision for NASA—And for space entrepreneurs too?. Space Policy,26(2), 78-80.

Stone, D., Lindenmoyer, A., French, G., Musk, E., Gump, D., Kathuria, C., Miller, C., Sirangelo, M. & Pickens, T. (2008). NASA’s approach to commercial cargo and crew transportation. Acta Astronautica, 63(1), 192-197.

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