The Ethics of AI and Space Exploration

Today we are talking about some of the ethical considerations surrounding using AI for space exploration, including resource ownership, space junk, contacting alien civilizations, and more. 

Introduction

AI is changing the world – and it’s even having an impact beyond it through technological advances that are reshaping how we approach space exploration. The market for AI technology in space exploration is estimated to hit $35 billion dollars by the year 2033, and it’s already been in use for many spacecraft missions. It has the potential to transform our understanding of the universe, expand our horizons, and even attempt to communicate with other civilizations, if they’re out there. In this episode, we’re going to talk about some of the ways AI is changing space exploration and what ethical questions this new frontier is raising.

AI, space trash, and property rights

The first topic we’re going to focus on is still pretty close to home compared to the solar system and the rest of the universe. Surrounding the Earth is an ever-increasing amount of space junk: old spacecraft that have run out of fuel, spent rocket boosters, and pieces of damaged and broken equipment that are still orbiting the planet with nowhere to go. This debris is interfering with scientists trying to collect data from the Earth, since it can block out some readings.

It’s also getting more and more likely for it to collide with other debris, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces which become steadily more difficult to identify, track, and clean up. Even a small piece of dust can do some serious damage to functioning spacecraft if it hits the wrong spot, like a delicate sensor array. The more pieces of debris orbiting the planet, the higher the chances of something striking and damaging working spacecraft. This can destroy years of work and if astronauts are involved, put people’s lives at risk.

Luckily, there are some things we can do to manage the space junk floating around Earth, and AI can be used to make this task a lot easier and cheaper. One way is through implementing AI tools to analyze massive datasets to identify debris, track its trajectory, and predict if it will strike something. AI could also track and identify small debris approaching the craft and make small adjustments to the craft’s trajectory to avoid a future collision while minimizing the fuel spent on the maneuver, which will extend the lifespan of the spacecraft.

AI can also be used for autonomous docking with old spacecraft, and possibly repairing and refueling them as well. This could breathe new life into machines that were left for dead, extending the length of scientific missions, saving costs of building new spacecraft, and helping to clear out space junk all at the same time.

Some ethical questions start cropping up when we think about using AI to reuse or recycle old spacecraft. If an old spacecraft has been abandoned, does that mean it’s free for anyone to take the leftovers? What if the spacecraft had sensitive data stored on it or classified technology? What if there were expensive resources or pieces of old equipment with historical significance? These are questions without an easy answer, and it could cause some friction between nations while the details are ironed out.

It could be difficult to identify which piece of space debris belongs to which organization in some cases. This complicates the matter even more – if we don’t know who the debris belongs to, is it okay to use it? AI might be making these decisions autonomously, if set up to do so. How will an AI know what to save, what to take, and who to contact without crossing lines?

Next, we’re going to talk about how AI can be used with traveling across tough terrain in the solar system, especially the moon, and for making decisions around resource mining.

Movement and mining on the moon

We run into similar questions when considering how to use AI to traverse terrain on other planetary bodies and moons, identify and collect resources, and build new technology.

The farther from Earth we travel, the more time it takes for signals to travel – which can spell disaster if an immediate decision for a rover to avoid a crater or another hazard is required. By the time people on Earth can make a decision and send a command, the hazard may have already occurred. AI can make these kinds of decisions in real time by analyzing data from a rover’s sensors, combining it with other data pools, and determining if a hazard exists.

One ethical problem is what if that AI has to choose between two bad options? What if it steers away from the rock the rover was about to strike, and instead runs over something of scientific importance or something historical like the footprints on the moon where the first astronauts stepped? If left undisturbed, those footprints could remain intact as long as the moon itself does – there’s no atmosphere or volcanic activity to wear them away. But if an AI makes a choice to prioritize a spacecraft or rover over those footprints, they’ll be gone forever.

Another way AI is likely to be employed on the moons and planets in the solar system is through collecting and mining resources. Mining resources on the moon could make space exploration a lot more feasible, especially for building larger, more complex spacecraft, space stations, and other technology. This is because gravity limits the amount of material that can be launched off of the Earth in one go – the more something weighs, the more energy is required to get it off the planet. In addition, rocket launches are incredibly expensive. This means getting materials into space is a limiting factor on what kinds of things we can build out there.

However, if there was a technology that could travel and work in inhospitable environments like the rest of the solar system, resources could be gathered in places where it’s easier to launch them. The moon has a much lower gravity than Earth, so it takes much less energy to launch something from its surface. AI could control automated miners that identify, collect, process, and launch resources from the moon.

There are several ethical concerns with autonomously mining the moon. Like the previous scenario, AI might have to pick between two bad options when operating, and it might not know which is the better choice. What it chooses will probably depend on who owns the AI miners, and what they have instructed the AI to prioritize. This could get rocky quickly if, for example, an organization tells its AI miners to prioritize getting a particular resource and it chooses to destroy rock samples that have important scientific data.

At larger scales, mining in the solar system has the potential to disrupt ecosystems we do not yet understand and can even have an impact on the Earth. If enough material was removed from the moon, it would change the gravitational force it exerts on the Earth, which could affect tides and increase seismic activity on our planet.

AI chatbots and alien civilizations

Moving further out past the solar system, AI has the potential to reach parts of the galaxy we can’t currently send much data to. Some scientists are developing a way to create a simple, interactive AI bot that could be beamed into space much farther and faster than a physical object could travel in the hopes of finding connection with any alien civilizations that might be in range and curious about us. They would be able to learn one of our languages from the bot and ask it simple questions to learn more about Earth and humanity.

While AI is making this possible, it raises some questions about whether we should do it or not. Attempts to send out some signal of humanity to other civilizations have been done before, but not to this scale, and not this far out. If there are civilizations out there, sending an AI bot to tell them about us could be dangerous. If they’re unfriendly, it could put the entire human race and our planet in danger, and the AI bot could tell them where to find us and give them advance knowledge about us while we would have no idea that they even exist.

On the other hand, if they’re a friendly civilization, we might be able to share technology, art, and make some new friends. No matter what, reaching out to the unknown by sending an AI chatbot deep into space could make life on Earth a lot more complicated if someone replied. Is this a step into the future that humanity is ready for?

Taking it a step further – who has the right to make that kind of decision to reach out when it could have a global impact? The people developing the AI chatbot? A nation, or a consensus of nations? A global vote? If this technology is developed further, people will have to decide what information to teach the AI to best represent us without making us too vulnerable, which is a complicated question to answer. The AI chatbot won’t be able to hold a large amount of information, so some important information will probably have to stay at home.

Conclusion

So far, we’ve talked about some examples of how AI is changing space exploration, including impacts to space debris, using old spacecraft, traversing and mining throughout the solar system, and reaching out beyond to try to connect with other civilizations, if they’re out there and want to chat. One recurring theme throughout the ethical questions that AI and space exploration has brought up is the idea of making global decisions. Who gets to decide what to do when the impact of that decision could affect the entire planet? This is going to become more and more common as the world gets more interconnected and we reach out further into the unknown.

What do you think? Should we reuse old spacecraft even if it’s not clear who owns the old pieces? What should AI take into consideration when making decisions about where to go and what to mine? Should we try to say hello to aliens through an AI chatbot and hope they’re friendly? Ask your friends and family what they think! Talking to each other can bring new insights to questions that might not have an easy answer, and maybe you’ll come up with something new!