AI robot launched
The artificial intelligence device will aid in space station science experiments.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.— A SpaceX rocket that flew two months ago with a NASA satellite roared back into action Friday, launching the first orbiting robot with artificial intelligence and other station supplies.
The used Falcon rocket blasted off before dawn, hauling nearly 6,000 pounds of cargo including the spherical AI bot named Cimon, genetically identical mice and super-caffeinated coffee for the crew of the International Space Station.
The shipment, packed into a Dragon capsule that’s also recycled, should reach the station Monday.
The launch delighted spectators as the rocket plume expanded in the night sky like a giant halo beneath a nearly full moon and a gleaming Mars.
SpaceX’s Jessica Jensen described the high-altitude plume, illuminated against the dark sky, as “the space jellyfish that’s coming down after us.”
This marked SpaceX’s fastest reflight of a booster. The same booster launched the planet-hunting Tess satellite in April. The capsule flew in 2016.
Aiming to lower launch costs by reusing rockets, SpaceX did not retrieve the booster for another flight and ditched it in the Atlantic instead. Thecompany is switching to a new and improved line of boosters.
The Dragon will deliver the robot Cimon, pronounced Simon. The 3D-printed German Space Agency robot will assist German astronaut Alexander Gerst with science experiments. IBM provided the AI brain. Cimon will remain on the or biting lab. Cimon stands for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion.
Also on board are two sets of genetically identical brown female mice, or 20 mice altogether.
Northwestern University wants to study the bacteria in the animals’ guts and compare them to their identical sisters on the ground. They did the same with former NASA astronauts and identical twins Scott and Mark Kelly during Scott’s mission a few years ago.