New AI Spacecraft Navigation Tech Could Transform International Space Station Docking

Engineers are testing a new artificial intelligence approach that could change how spacecraft navigate toward and dock with the International Space Station. The system uses a "world model" to simulate possible future movements, allowing a spacecraft to evaluate potential trajectories before carrying out a maneuver.AI 'Dreams' Possible Docking PathsThe research, published as a preprint on arXiv by researchers from Stanford, introduces the Out-of-this-World-Model (OWM), a transformer-based system designed for spacecraft rendezvous and proximity operations. The researchers tested the model in a simulated International Space Station docking environment.The AI spacecraft navigation system works by predicting how a spacecraft could move after different thrust and control commands. Instead of responding only to its current position, the world model generates possible future observations and estimates the uncertainty associated with those predictions.The researchers created an ISS docking environment capable of running large numbers of spacecraft simulations on graphics processing units (GPUs).