By Shefali Kapadia
When NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, needs to move from point A to point B, it’s not as simple as plugging in GPS directions. The rover has to avoid boulder fields, sand dunes, and steep slopes on a foreign planet.
To help chart a course for Perseverance, NASA has enlisted the help of AI and a digital twin. Digital twins are particularly useful to NASA, which “operates in some of the most extreme environments imaginable,” said Kevin Murphy, acting chief artificial intelligence officer at NASA. The technology creates a virtual replica of the actual environment and conditions, helping NASA scientists understand real-time conditions in places like outer space and Mars.
Like NASA, the broader aerospace industry is also embracing the use of digital twins with AI. Human oversight and verification are essential for aircraft and weapons that may put people’s lives at risk, said Karen Willcox, director of the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin.
SHEFALI KAPADIA 