Intel Showcases AI Application for Space Research at NASA FDL Event

Intel hosted the NASA Frontier Development Lab (FDL) Wrap-Up Event at the Santa Clara Campus, thereby concluding an 8-week summer program. As a key partner of FDL, Intel provided support to the ongoing research that is exploring the use of AI to solve a range of challenges within the fields of space weather, space resources, and planetary defense.

Intel aims to address the critical knowledge gaps by using AI in order to help establish humanity as a space-faring civilization and solve problems potentially affecting all of us residing on Earth.

Under the program, Intel mentored researchers who used Intel Nervanna deep learning technology to tackle the complex challenge of building detailed maps of the lunar poles.

Intel Showcases AI Application for Space Research at NASA FDL Event (Image Courtesy: Intel)

The challenge involves detecting craters and other features within the dramatic shadows of the polar regions as well as resolving the image artifacts and registration challenges to make a cohesive map. This task may take weeks by hand for just a small portion of the moon.

At the event, the team demonstrated that deep learning could achieve similar results as a human expert with vastly improved speeds. This suggests that detailed maps of all rocky objects in the solar system could be automated using deep learning techniques. Besides, it will provide reliable terrain mapping for future commercial space missions looking for water and other volatiles.

As per Intel, AI is revolutionizing the way businesses operate and how people engage with each other. As a data company, Intel needs to deliver solutions that create, use, and analyze the massive amounts of data generated every minute. Intel aims to avail this incredible opportunity of making AI accessible to every industry with support from across the company.

About Intel

Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers based on revenue and is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors: the processors found in most personal computers (PCs).

Intel supplies processors for computer systems and manufactures motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphics chips, embedded processors and other devices related to communications and computing.