Biological research and self-driving labs in deep space supported by artificial intelligence

Publication Date

3-1-2023

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Nature Machine Intelligence

Volume

5

Issue

3

DOI

10.1038/s42256-023-00618-4

First Page

208

Last Page

219

Abstract

Space biology research aims to understand fundamental spaceflight effects on organisms, develop foundational knowledge to support deep space exploration and, ultimately, bioengineer spacecraft and habitats to stabilize the ecosystem of plants, crops, microbes, animals and humans for sustained multi-planetary life. To advance these aims, the field leverages experiments, platforms, data and model organisms from both spaceborne and ground-analogue studies. As research is extended beyond low Earth orbit, experiments and platforms must be maximally automated, light, agile and intelligent to accelerate knowledge discovery. Here we present a summary of decadal recommendations from a workshop organized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on artificial intelligence, machine learning and modelling applications that offer solutions to these space biology challenges. The integration of artificial intelligence into the field of space biology will deepen the biological understanding of spaceflight effects, facilitate predictive modelling and analytics, support maximally automated and reproducible experiments, and efficiently manage spaceborne data and metadata, ultimately to enable life to thrive in deep space.

Funding Number

NNX16AO69A

Funding Sponsor

National Science Foundation

Comments

Full author list: Lauren M. Sanders, Ryan T. Scott, Jason H. Yang, Amina Ann Qutub, Hector Garcia Martin, Daniel C. Berrios, Jaden J. A. Hastings, Jon Rask, Graham Mackintosh, Adrienne L. Hoarfrost, Stuart Chalk, John Kalantari, Kia Khezeli, Erik L. Antonsen, Joel Babdor, Richard Barker, Sergio E. Baranzini, Afshin Beheshti, Guillermo M. Delgado-Aparicio, Benjamin S. Glicksberg, Casey S. Greene, Melissa Haendel, Arif A. Hamid, Philip Heller, Daniel Jamieson, Katelyn J. Jarvis, Svetlana V. Komarova, Matthieu Komorowski, Prachi Kothiyal, Ashish Mahabal, Uri Manor, Christopher E. Mason, Mona Matar, George I. Mias, Jack Miller, Jerry G. Myers Jr., Charlotte Nelson, Jonathan Oribello, Seung-min Park, Patricia Parsons-Wingerter, R. K. Prabhu, Robert J. Reynolds, Amanda Saravia-Butler, Suchi Saria, Aenor Sawyer, Nitin Kumar Singh, Michael Snyder, Frank Soboczenski, Karthik Soman, Corey A. Theriot, David Van Valen, Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Liz Warren, Liz Worthey, Marinka Zitnik & Sylvain V. Costes

Department

Computer Science

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