Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1456665
OPINION 3.3.2022 Alexiei Dingli Prof Alexiei Dingli is a Professor of AI at the University of Malta and has been conducting research and working in the field of AI for more than two decades, assisting different companies to implement AI solutions. He forms part of the Malta.AI task-force, set up by the Maltese government, aimed at making Malta one of the top AI countries in the world I n the late 60s, a man took his first steps on our nearest satellite, the moon. is feat pretty much cooled off the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It doesn't mean that ac- tivity stopped or we managed to conquer space, far from it! In fact, in the following years, different countries launched hun- dreds of satellites, we witnessed the cre- ation of the International Space Station, and various missions ventured into the darkness of space. However, it seems that the Space Race is not only alive and kicking today but back on the priority list of most coun- tries. A stroll at the recent World Expo held in Dubai quickly highlights these initiatives. e United States exhibited a rock sample from the moon, brought back to Earth by the Apollo Mission. ey also proudly showcase a replica of the Mars Rover and a 43 meters tall SpaceX rocket. I guess the message is explicit. NASA is currently the only space agen- cy that has been able to land astronauts successfully on the moon, and it seems that they are working hard to do the same on Mars. Furthermore, they in- tend to reach this ambitious goal with SpaceX, the private company owned by Elon Musk, ushering a new era of com- mercial space missions. Russia, too, is celebrating its space leg- acy by displaying a replica of Sputnik, the first satellite in space. China is sending a bold message when they portray space as a continuation of their profound civilisation. Visitors can admire small models of the Chi- nese Chang'e lunar landers and the Tianwen-1 Mars mission. ere is also an impressive video that highlights the milestones of their space exploration, emphasising the Beidou navigation sat- ellites and the Zhurong Mars rover, to name a few. India is showing their new human spaceflight program with various mod- els of their Indian spacecraft, launch vehicles, satellites and the Mangalyaan Mars orbiter. ey will use the space- suit on display during the first crewed launch in 2023. e Emirates created a Mars Corridor to celebrate their achievements based around the journey of the Hope Probe, their first Mars orbiter. ey also organ- ised several public meetings with astro- nauts. On the other hand, Italy exhibits a Vega rocket model and boasts a robotic arm that will operate on the Red Planet during the second ExoMars 2020 space mission. Its function will be to drill as far as 2 meters into the Martian surface in search of signs of life. Switzerland is tackling a different task, an orbital debris removal called Clear- Space-1 developed by a Swiss firm to re- cover a launch adapter left in orbit after a Vega launch. Both Belgium and France are cele- brating their astronauts. e former honours astronaut Frank De Winne and the latter exhibits a spacesuit worn by astronaut omas Pesquet on his first trip to space on the Soyuz. Finally, the mobility pavilion, which celebrates all forms of transportation, has a colossal mural that emphasises the heroic astronauts walking on distant planets with rockets racing overhead. So it's evident that the next technologi- cal race will happen in space, particular- ly somewhere close to the Red Planet. 2021 was also an important year for Malta since the University of Malta em- barked on two projects. e Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy released its first stratospheric balloon called Stratos-1 in the upper atmosphere to help document climate change. Dur- ing the same year, the Department of Applied Biomedical Science launched Project Maleth. ey managed to send to the International Space Station an ex- periment that uses the environment in space to study fundamental biomedical science questions that can have impli- cations to real-world clinical problems. Of course, this is just the first step, and soon, we will be able to witness even more complicated investigations with the help of Artificial Intelligence. But the race is accelerating, and at the beginning of 2022, Malta also launched a National Space Strategy open for con- sultation. e aim is not to launch rock- ets any time soon but to explore ways government can open up the economy for affiliated sectors. is, of course, involves a lot of hard work by Maltese researchers who, together with their counterparts abroad, will harness the massive potential of space. Whereas a century ago, going abroad was just a dream that very few could af- ford. Today, space is in the same stage. I can only dream of maybe one day floating around in zero gravity. But by opening up opportunities, I know that my daughter should not limit herself to just dreaming about space but can one day have a career in the booming space industry. Like all the other children, she should aspire to go to other satellites or planets and even explore the immensity of space where no man has gone before! The space race is on!