NASA landed the first man on the Moon 50 years ago, in July 1969, and soon the space agency will send the first woman to the Moon. NASA’s sister programme to Apollo, Artemis, envisions a future of renewed lunar exploration but also looks beyond. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine boldly announced in August 2018 the space agency would return to the Moon with the purpose of staying. But before NASA can materialise its dreams of colonising space, aerospace engineer Ella Atkins believes there are hurdles that need to be tackled.
Ms Atkins, an IEEE senior member and professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, told Epxress.co.uk autonomous machinery and artificial intelligence will have a critical role to play in future space exploration.
The spaceflight expert said: “As we continue to launch more spacecraft and they go farther, let’s say maybe we go to Europa or maybe we go to Titan, we’ll have new missions that give us new data.
“So, we can’t micromanage from Mission Control. We have to let them be autonomous and we know that.
“We can make these calculations but we have to actually embrace it and go that next step.”
READ MORE: This is how humans could one day survive on the Red Planet
One autonomous technology Ms Atkins is excited by is the development of miniaturised satellites known as CubeSats.
NASA’s Artemis aims to send the next generation of astronauts to the Moon by the year 2024.
Shortly after, the space agency wants to settle and develop a “sustainable human presence of the Moon”.
With some luck, 60-year-old dreams of finally establishing a base on the Moon could come to fruition by the end of the next decade.
But doing so will require NASA to come up with the sort of technology that can work autonomously from humans and autonomously from Earth-based resources.
READ MORE: NASA unveils five 3D-printed Martian habitats for first human colonisers
Another promising technology, Ms Atkins said, is the advancement of sturdy and intricate 3D printing.
Should an astronaut on the Moon or Mars, for instance, leave a critical tool back on Earth, 3D printing could be a way to rapidly build tools and machinery.
NASA is already exploring this concept by fielding contests for teams to design machines that can remotely build or 3D print habitats on Mars with nothing but the resources already available on the Red Planet.
Ms Atkins said: “I know a lot of people that are excited about 3D printing and the capabilities that might offer because imagine you’re on Mars and you forget something. What are you going to do?
“Well, if you have a 3D printer, then you’re still in good shape.”
Better yet, Ms Atkins said if the technology can user resources in situ without having to rely on Earth.