AI makes spacecraft propulsion more efficient – ​​and could even lead to nuclear-powered rockets

This article was originally published at The conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Every year companies and space agencies Shoot hundreds of rockets into space – and that number will increase dramatically with ambitious missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. But those dreams depend on a crucial challenge: propulsion—the methods used to propel rockets and spacecraft.

To make interplanetary travel faster, safer and more efficient, scientists need breakthroughs in propulsion technology. Artificial intelligence is a type of technology that has begun to enable some of these necessary breakthroughs.

We are a team of Engineers and PhD students that examine what AI in general and a subset of AI is called machine learning In particular, it can change the propulsion of spacecraft. Of optimization nuclear heat engines for managing complexes Plasma confinement in fusion systemsAI is changing…