Even AI Understands the Space Race. And it knows the U.S. may be losing to China.
An article from July 25th by Benzinga Neuro, an AI-powered non-human content provider, reported that China’s “secret” space plane released mysterious objects into space and maneuvered around them. Reportedly similar to the U.S. X-37B space plane, it was the third known mission of China’s space plane. The X-37B has been on six known missions and is currently orbiting Earth on its seventh mission. Both spacecraft are steeped in mystery, and many believe both are being used for military purposes despite repeated denials by the government agencies responsible for them.
A commentator (a human; not AI) speculated in Reuters that China’s space plane is “closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them.” In other words, the plane deploys a decoy and then uses it for practice, preparing them for the real war games. Interesting speculation.
Later reports indicated that the objects purportedly released by the space plane were, in fact, pieces of space debris that it managed to run into. If true, it is a nice catch of AI error by humans. Then again, Benzinga Neuro picked up the potentially false information from human-generated reports. Oops.
Meanwhile, China continues deploying manned and unmanned crews to its Tiangong space station. It appears they’re much better at sending taikonauts (their nomenclature for astronauts) to their orbiter and returning them than the U.S. is to the International Space Station, where two astronauts are still stuck. After Boeing’s NASA-sponsored return spacecraft sprung a leak, they haven’t been able to return. Talk about guests overstaying their welcome!
But perhaps we can relax. Reports also say China’s space plane and station could be used for non-military purposes like refueling satellites. Yeah, and an AR-14 rifle is only used for hunting. Right.
As expected, China is disclosing nothing about its plans and photographs of the space plane are challenging to find. In an ironic twist, however, China’s Ministry of State Security accused rival nations of trying to steal its space technology and research. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
No doubt the overseers of the U.S. space program are paying attention to what China is doing. Nonetheless, as I’ve said in prior blogs, China is at best tied with the U.S. or worse, ahead, particularly regarding colonizing the Moon.
Should we worry? Perhaps. But if you’d like an entertaining look at what might lay ahead in a space race driven by both humans and AI, consider reading my novel, Dragon on the Far Side of the Moon, where I pit China and the U.S. against one another in a race to colonize the Moon. Perhaps my spin on fiction may soon become a reality.