At an average distance of 225 million kilometers ( 140 million statute mile ) , it takes about15 minutesto commit a sign to the Curiosity roamer on Mars , and just as long to get a answer . Thus , using human beings to ascertain it is pretty sluggish going .
That ’s all changed in the preceding class though . rarity has become more sovereign than ever before , using Modern artificial intelligence software to vaporize and canvas rock all by itself . It ’s likely not self - aware just yet , but hey , that ’s basically the next measure right ?
The software package is call Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science ( AEGIS ) . A paper inScience : Roboticsdescribes how the rover has been using AEGIS since May 2016 . On 54 social function , the software used Curioisty ’s ChemCam cat’s-paw , with most of those require discharge a laser at a rock to study the gas that sting off and work out what the rock was made of .
" Time is precious on Mars , " moderate author Raymond Francis of NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , California , said in astatement . " AEGIS grant us to make exercise of time that otherwise was n’t usable because we were waiting for someone on Earth to make a decision . "
Using AEGIS has led to some interesting discoveries . Scientists have found high quantity of chlorine and silica in nearby rock-and-roll , for example , which helped them settle what scientific discipline the rover should do next . Curiosity ’s successor , theMars 2020 scouter , will also be using AEGIS .
The software can be programmed to seem for specific character of careen in terms of color , material body , and sizing . auspices can also fine - tune investigations planned by the humans back on Earth , so that they have a better opportunity of hitting a butt they ’re after .
The big benefit of AEGIS is that it think of the rover can do science while it ’s waiting for commands . The team on Earth are still responsible for for decide where to drive the roamer next , but while they debate , the wanderer is fussy performing its own science on the airfoil .
Before AEGIS was implemented , Curiosity would just blindly fire its laser at the ground in the hope of hitting a rock . About half the time , it would just hit soil , which provided useful data in its own right , but rocks are more interesting to scientist .
Yes , we had a robot randomly attacking the aerofoil of another satellite . Now we ’ve got a golem that ’s getting better at explore another major planet by itself . It might not be self - cognizant yet , but hopefully we ’ve avoided accidentally starting a war with the Martians .
