Major summit hosted in Brisbane discusses AI and robotics in space exploration.

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Space agencies from around the world are in Brisbane attending a symposium discussing Australia's space-related initiatives and the role of AI in space exploration.

Transcript

00:00Well, robotics and AI have well and truly taken over here at Brisbane's Convention and

00:07Exhibition Centre, and it's all for the International Space Symposium.

00:11Now, it's only held once every two years, and this is the first time it's been hosted

00:16right here in Australia.

00:17Now, I'm unable to get onto the moon for this exhibition and to show off all the incredible

00:22technology that's available, but I'll do you one better.

00:25I've got a real-life astronaut, Catherine Bennel-Pegg, who is the first qualified Australian

00:30astronaut and also the Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency.

00:35Catherine, how does it feel to have the Space Symposium being held right here in your home

00:39country?

00:40Oh, we're so proud here in Australia to have this, you know, Automation, Robotics and AI

00:45for Space Conference held here in Australia.

00:47You know, Australia is absolutely punching above its weight on the world stage in these

00:51technologies and capabilities, and now here we have the world's space agencies and experts

00:56descending here in Brisbane to prepare for the future.

01:00How incredible.

01:01Now, you are headlining this summit.

01:04It's almost like being a rock star at a concert.

01:08What can we expect?

01:09Oh, I'm going to be talking about the big picture of what's happening in the world of

01:12space and how it applies to these technologies.

01:15You know, in space we are doing so much great work that's accelerated by automation, AI

01:20and robotics, and space underpins our daily life.

01:23So it's really important we capture the best of those and apply it.

01:27Things like, you know, helping to see our planet and communicate with people on it from

01:31above to develop new medicines on the International Space Station and soon to go back to the moon

01:36when we're going to learn more about Earth using technologies perhaps, you know, from

01:40the deserts and remote areas and industries of Australia.

01:43How incredible.

01:44Now, tell me a bit about what this does to sort of help your job as being an astronaut.

01:50A lot of the advancements in technology, including robotics and AI, can actually help

01:54you?

01:55Absolutely.

01:56So today we're already using these technologies to help in the space industry, whether it's

02:00from mission design and planning to optimising, say, new thruster designs to helping us navigate

02:05in space or on Mars and more.

02:08But in the future, you know, having more autonomous systems in space will unlock new opportunity

02:13and new capabilities and will help astronauts to do their job better and to go ahead of

02:17astronauts where things may be too dirty, dusty, dull or dangerous for us to go there.

02:23And actually Australia has its own rover called Roover in preparation to go to the moon within

02:29the decade and that is a really exciting advancement for our country, our first lunar mission.

02:35How incredible.

02:36Thank you so much for your time.

02:37The International Space Symposium will be held right here at Brisbane's Exhibition and

02:41Convention Centre all the way till Thursday this week.

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