Senior Space Force official says AI will be key for space operations

Artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in coordinating U.S. space operations amidst the proliferation of capabilities and platforms in the future, Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of U.S. Space Command, said yesterday.

Shaw, who discussed the future of AI in the space domain during a virtual Space Innovation Summit, said future platforms -- smaller and mostly autonomous -- would need to be coordinated and controlled by AI, especially as they get further the planet.

“When I have all of those platforms operating, and I have got other capabilities in space or capabilities in the terrestrial domains that are contributing to the space activity, to space operations, to a space flight -- how do I command and control all of that?” Shaw said. “We are going to need what AI can bear to be effective, given that challenge.”

Additionally, Shaw said AI will contribute to data gathering, which can be simplified by applying predictive analytics to understand the near future and prepare for it.

“We need to use every possible form of data available to us, whether that’s supplied by our government systems or by our commercial partners or allied partners or others, to bring all that data together to fuse that and understand what is happening in our domain,” he said.