What an honor it was to participate in Israeli Space Week, which took place between January 28 and February 2, and in particular, the 12th Rona Ramon education in Space Conference. 

One of the conference highlights was talking with Jessica Meir, an accomplished American-Jewish NASA astronaut and scientist. 

 We spoke about the historical drivers of space exploration and current Artemis missions, the role of AI, and the importance of human curiosity in space.

Competition vs. Collaboration

Historically, the drivers of space exploration were intense global competition and the Cold War. As such, the US government dedicated a massive 4% of its national budget to the Apollo missions. Today, the entire NASA budget is less than half a percent of the national budget because priorities are different. Today, space exploration is driven by collaboration between global governments and private entities.   

According to Jessica, this type of collaboration is the key to successful space exploration in the 21st century. Diverse teams are more effective, successful, and content, bringing to the forefront a different level of creativity and problem-solving. 

Artemis Missions

NASA is currently working on its Artemis missions, which are a return to moon exploration using technology which is vastly more advanced than it was during the 1960s-70s. Artemis 1 launched in November 2022, Artemis 2 is set to launch in September 2025, and there are two more missions planned following that. For each mission, astronaut training is between one and a half to two years.

Robots and AI vs. Humans

When I asked Jessica if she thinks robots and AI will replace live astronauts, she said she thinks there will always be a role for both. The benefits of robots are that they can cover large amounts of ground and “test out” exploration in new places, but their drawback is that they can only achieve things that they are pre-programmed to do. Humans, on the other hand, have a creative brain that can make discoveries and adapt and react to unexpected situations. 

 And while AI and ML may have learning capabilities, what’s missing is the spirit of human curiosity, which is the ultimate driver of space exploration and can only be truly represented by humans. 

NASA Resources

NASA has a wonderful array of resources for educators, students, and anyone interested in learning more about space exploration. You can find them here.