W. Steve Wilson

Category: CE 2024

Space exploration successes and scientific innovations are happening every day. Here I’ll share my excitement around advances in rocketry, lunar and planetary exploration, deep space discoveries, genetics, medicine, technology, and renewable energy. Books and movies will be an occasional topic to mix it up.

Mars Analog 2: An Expedition to the “Martian” Desert

BLOG, CE 2024

Trans Earth Injection was successful!

I have returned from my trip to The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) as part of the Refit Crew. A team of Mars enthusiasts spent 9+ days upgrading, refurbishing, and renovating The Mars Society’s Mars analog in Southeast Utah.

The place felt like Mars; a quick look out the window would make that real. The colors were ruddy; there was no vegetation but plenty of empty space. The only clues you were on Earth (as a view) were the larger sun and the beautiful blue sky. One wonders how visitors to Mars will adapt. Will they miss a bright yellow Sol? Will they miss clear blue skies or clouds? All questions that I’ll bet are under study. Just Google researching the psychology of living on Mars, and you’ll find any number of articles on the topic. [Note: the link is that search prompt entered into Google.]

Simulations, including the recently completed CHAPEA Mission 1, are attempting to address these issues. One question that may have to wait is how the dynamics of a small team in an isolated habitat play out when the team knows they aren’t just an airlock door away from Earth when they are actually on Mars. That’s a topic for another post.

But, back to the Refit Expedition. The Refit Crew was tasked with upgrades, refurbishment, and getting the MDRS ready for the first crew of the following research season. Here’s a short list and some pictures:

Rebuild the shower

Install padding on the ladder steps (so you don’t need boots to climb the stairs)

Re-model two crew staterooms

Dig trenches and lay stone walk areas (it might not rain on Mars—yet—but it does rain in Southeastern Utah, and flooding can be a problem)

Get the rovers out of storage and charged up

Upgrade the wall/floor interface (looks finished and keeps out the little, furry “locals”—again, a Utah issue, but not yet a Mars issue)

Patch and paint walls, handrails, airlock doors, and airlock openings

We were awed by the view of our home galaxy (at least this “city boy” was), caught a glimpse of the aurora borealis (through our iPhones), and even met one of the locals.

Last, we had a great team: an astronomer, a planetary scientist, a book editor/coach, a game developer, a couple of retired IT guys, a wetlands/reclamation specialist, a bio-medical student, an architect, a software engineer, etc. plus the site director. We were a mixed bunch but with mad skills and a shared interest in Mars and all things interplanetary. We shared one thing, though—we’ve all seen (and mostly liked) every science fiction movie from the Seventies. One of the crew members mentioned it might be because there are so few of them compared to later decades. Needless to say, our dinner discussions were heaven for a sci-fi geek like me.

We had a fabulous time. We worked hard, had fun, “worked” the daily checklist, and enjoyed the area’s natural wonders and good food and conversation when we trekked into town.

I can’t wait ’till next year.

In the meantime, check out The Mars Society (The Mars Society) and the MDRS (Mars Desert Research Station (marssociety.org)), and support them if you’re so inclined.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mars Analogs: Live a Martian Lifestyle Right Here on Earth

BLOG, CE 2024

Mars Analogs. Not a term I’d heard until a few months ago when The Mars Society put out an appeal for volunteers to join a re-hab crew at the Mars Desert Research Station in southeastern Utah. I’d heard of specific facilities and experiments run by NASA, but not the MDRS nor the term Mars Analog. (MDRS: Mars Desert Research Station (marssociety.org))

As I prepared to head to Utah to join the re-hab crew, I thought I’d check in on what’s going on at other analogs. There are more than you might think, and certainly the ubiquitous Wikipedia page lists several, with links to their details (List of Mars analogs – Wikipedia).

Several analog cycles have concluded in the last couple of months. Most notably, CHAPEA Mission 1 (CHAPEA Mission 1 – NASA) wrapped up in July with the crew exiting the habitat after 378 days in isolation.

NASA’s Antarctic facility (referred to as “white Mars”) is part of the Human Research Program (Antarctic Stations – NASA) NASA states:

“Antarctica’s climate, terrain, temperature, and isolation provide an environment on Earth that closely parallels the conditions of isolation and stress that astronauts will face on long-duration missions in space. This analog provides a unique and accessible test bed to develop prototype systems and technologies for use on the Moon and Mars.”

And yes, you read that right, I’m heading to the MDRS in the near future. But no, I’m not joining a Mars simulation mission, but rather joining the team that is prepping the facility for the next research season that starts in mid-October. I’d love to be part of a real research cycle, maybe play the role of the useless stowaway that rises to the occasion to save the day. But my guess is, that’s not a role they typically fill.

So I’m excited to go and spend a couple of weeks working on the habitat and, as my wife puts it, “geeking out” with my fellow Mars enthusiasts.

But as you know from past issues, I can let a post go by without a movie reference.

I will try to avoid embarrassing myself and thus include only this passing reference to the absurd Bio-Dome (included here only in reference to my remark above about the useless stowaway) and move on to darker reference to a Mars-like habitat in the 1977 science fiction thriller, Capricorn One (2-minute video).

[Image Credit: v67566dd67m.jpg (442×800) (rovicorp.com)]

The movie centers on a Mars mission, doomed to failure. The “government” decides to have the crew live in a simulated Mars environment, send back updates, and ultimately return to Earth—sure, what could go wrong. No spoilers here though.

So, I guess when the first mission to Mars is launched, the conspiracy theorists will be staking out all the Mars analogs that are around the world.

I just hope they don’t show up when we’re re-habing the MDRS.

I’ll provide a mission de-brief when I return from Utah and let you all know how it went. In the meantime, check out The Mars Society (The Mars Society) and the MDRS (Mars Desert Research Station (marssociety.org)), and support them if you’re so inclined.

Thanks for stopping by.

CE 2024: Another Year of Hot Topics and the Odd Weird Tale

CE 2024

Welcome to my author website, and thank you for reading my blog for the new year 2024.

As in prior years, I thought I’d let you know what to expect—my thoughts and excitement about recent developments and interesting topics in Science and Technology.

Again, those are broad topics and could cover just about anything.

Last year, we covered Atomic Rockets, travel to Mars, AI Writers, Lab Grown Food, and the first in my robot series: Robot Likability. Mostly, you’ll see posts on rocketry, lunar and planetary exploration, deep space discoveries, genetics, medicine, technology, and renewable energy.

Truthfully—I love research, and building a fictional future world means I get to cover a wide swath of our modern society. You never know when you’ll come across an idea for a new mystery, a plot twist, a hidden clue, or a surprise solution. So, I’ll share what I discover and hope you find it interesting.

But I don’t spend my whole life in the real world. I’m an avid Science Fiction and Mystery reader and movie watcher. Occasionally, I’ll veer off and post a book, series, or movie review. I’ll post about old and new entries and touch on a classic now and then. B-movies will, I’m sure, make an appearance.

I hope you will enjoy my posts, and if you’d like to discuss a particular topic or stay connected, please slide over to my Contact page. Please join my email list as well to receive advance notice of upcoming short fiction.

Thank you again for visiting my blog.

AIs: Just What in the Heck are They Learning?

CE 2024

In the hilarious Bill Murray* comedy Stripes, the misfit platoon is late for basic training graduation, and the general asks them where they’ve been. Murray’s response is, “Training, sir.” To which the general asks, “What kind of training?” And in classic Murray fashion, the answer is, “Arrrmy training, sir.”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHcMxOJ5BN4, 2:15 minutes)

[Image Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/topher147/art/Bill-Murray-Army-Training-591625354]

One might ask this same question, “What kind of training?”, about ChatGPT and other AI based tools we may access regularly to have fun, do work, explore, create, etc. When we engage with these “entities” (as they often seem to interact with us in almost conversational ways), how much do we know regarding the data used to train AIs or GPT models?

How does the data used to pre-train the GPT affect the results we receive, and can we detect biases and limitations based on the results? How can we rely on algorithms which most of us don’t understand?

This might be a challenge unless we have some way of validating or corroborating the results.

For example, I recently did some work on a project for my college reunion, and we tried out ChatGPT to collect details about the world during and since we were in school. The results generally tracked with my memory of the past decades. But I don’t know what was excluded, what emphasis was placed on specific historical events. However, even the OpenAI help page cautions that ChatGPT can provide incorrect information and that users should check other sources. In my case, my possibly faulty memory. (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6783457-what-is-chatgpt)

The challenge of understanding or being alert to how the training data impacts the responses confronts all of us. Do we just the technicians trained the model properly, using data we feel is appropriate? Do we trust the developers that created the reward system that tells the GPT that a response is correct? Can we rely on the tech companies to install the proper guardrails, so AI tools are helpful without being harmful? Do we apply the same judgment we use in evaluating human truths? Are any of us even equipped to understand how AI training will manifest?

Ted Chiang addressed these questions brilliantly in his novella, The Life Cycle of Software Objects. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lifecycle_of_Software_Objects) In the work, the main characters educate the software entities over a period of years, much like raising children or pets. They rewarded behavior, exposed the entities to new information, and experience, and so on. The owners/parents trained the software entities to be like adult humans, but it took many, many years. It’s only been a couple of years since ChatGPT was released.

Using this paradigm, should we evaluate AI’s performance, searching for nuance and effects from how it was trained, the same way we look at how upbringing affects us and the people we meet?

On the darker side, in a climactic scene in the movie M3gan, the question of understanding how an AI will respond based on training comes up in an unfortunate way. The robot is busy attacking the main character in a dark and dismal basement, and it confronts Gemma:

Gemma: [shakes her head] Look, this is all my fault. I didn’t give you the proper protocols …

M3gan: You didn’t give me anything! You installed a learning model you could barely comprehend, hoping that I would figure it out all on my own. … [Ref: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8760708/characters/nm6761813]

But not to be too dark and dreary about AI, Star Trek, The Next Generation, as it does, gives us hope. In Season 7, Episode 23, Emergence, the Enterprise creates a new conscious entity. In the ending scene, Captain Picard provides insight into how what we used to train AIs may determine what result we get:

“The intelligence that was formed on the Enterprise didn’t just come out of the ship’s systems. It came from us. From our mission records, personal logs, holodeck programs, our fantasies. Now, if our experiences with the Enterprise have been honorable, can’t we trust that the sum of those experiences will be the same?“

[Ref: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Emergence_(episode)]

And in the end, does the process matter or is the outcome what’s important? Did the general in Stripes care that Murray’s unit learned the drill in an unconventional way, or was he just satisfied that the drill was completed successfully?

It’s going to be an interesting time, to understate the obvious, as we learn how this new technology will alter our world. Let’s hope it’s more Star Trek and less M3gan.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.

*My reference to Murray’s work in Stripes does not condone or apologize for his alleged inappropriate behavior.

[Disclaimer: Please accept my apologies for any ads that pop up before the linked videos. They do not reflect my position, nor do I endorse any of the products—it’s just a YouTube thing I can’t get around.]