The latest incorporation At the Tiangong Space Station of China there is a AI chat with experience in navigation and tactical planning. Named Wukong Ai, after the protagonist of the legend of the “Monkey King” in Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong, the chat was introduced to the space station in mid -July and has already completed his first mission: to support three Taikonauts during a space walk.
Wukong AI information is still limited. Chinese authorities have said that they have developed it from a domestic open source AI model; According to Xinhua, China State News Agency, engineers designed it to meet the requirements of manned space missions and focused their knowledge base on aerospace flight data.
“This system can provide quick and effective information support for complex operations and the manipulation of failures by crew members, improving work efficiency, psychological support in orbit and coordination between space and terrestrial teams,” Taikonaut Training Center told Xinhua Pengfei.
The technicians connected the IA to Tiangong on July 15. It began to provide support a month later, being the first time that the China space station has used a model of great language (LLM) during orbit missions. Wukong Ai helped the crew on a six -and -a -half -hour mission, which involved Taikonauts to install space waste protection devices during a catwalk and carry out a routine station inspection.
Taikonauts claim that their new assistant “offers very complete content”. Chinese media describe Wukong Ai as a classic system of questions and answers divided into two modules: one installed at the station and one on Earth. The earth module performs in depth analysis, while the module that accompanies the crew solves immediate challenges. The combination of the two creates an advanced assistant capable of adapting to each mission.
Wukong is neither the first ai system in space or the first of a station. The International Space Station already has Astrobee, a robot that helps astronauts to Routine tasks and CIMON, a conversational psychological support system. Wukong Ai’s particularity is that it combines the functions of a smart assistant, such as those used on Earth, with a total approach to space navigation.
The Tiangong station is the nucleus of China’s strategy to consolidate its position as a space power over the next 30 years. The station currently serves as a microgravity laboratory for experiments that would be impossible on Earth. In the future, China plans to expand it and turn it into a platform of logistics and intermediate formation between the moon and the earth’s surface.
And the reason for the name of the AI? Sun Wukong is a mythical person who appears in the classic novel Journey to the West. In China, it symbolizes cunning, adaptability, endurance and the search for knowledge.
This story originally appeared Wiring in Spanish And it has been translated from Spanish.
