Web 2.0 in space? "Borg" computer posse designs NASA antennas

2/23/2006 1:36:27 AM - Boing Boing

Xeni Jardin:

NASA spokesperson John Bluck explains,

For the first time, objects 'evolved by computers' will be launched into space in March 2006, if all goes to plan. The objects are antennas mounted on three small NASA satellites.

Earlier, 80 personal computers, running artificial intelligence software, quickly 'evolved' the design of the small space antennas at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.

Like a friendly, non-biological form of the Borg Collective of science fiction fame, 80 personal computers, using artificial intelligence (AI), have combined their silicon brains to quickly design a tiny, advanced space antenna.

If all goes well, three of these computer-designed space antennas will begin their trip into space in March 2006, when an L-1011 aircraft will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The airplane will drop a Pegasus XL rocket into the sky high above the Pacific Ocean. The rocket will ignite and carry three small Space Technology (ST5) satellites into orbit.

Each satellite will be equipped with a strange-looking, computer-designed space antenna. Although they resemble bent paperclips, the antennas are highly efficient, according to scientists.