NASA Astronauts on Artemis Could Talk to a Spaceship Computer

upstart writes:

And why engineers say the moon-bound Alexa can't become 2001's HAL:

Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Star Trek gang were in constant dialogue with the onboard Enterprise computer, asking it questions about the starship and their alien environments.

[...] When Lockheed Martin, the company that built the new Orion spacecraft for NASA, first dreamed up the talking computer, engineers figured they'd just throw an Amazon Echo Dot on the dashboard with a laptop and call it a day. But it wasn't nearly that simple, said Rob Chambers, Lockheed's director of commercial civil space strategy.

[...] An experiment to test the technology will ride along with Artemis on its first spaceflight, which could launch as early as Aug. 29. The project, named Callisto after one of Artemis' favorite hunting companions in Greek mythology, is programmed to give crew live answers about the spacecraft's flight status and other data, such as water supply and battery levels. The technology is being paid for by the companies - not NASA.

A custom Alexa system built specifically for the spacecraft will have access to some 120,000 data readouts - more than astronauts have had before, with some bonus information previously only available within Houston's mission control.

[...] For the most part, the virtual assistant will be answering queries, like "Alexa, how fast is Orion traveling?" and "Alexa, what's the temperature in the cabin?" The only thing the system can actually control are the lights, said Justin Nikolaus, an Alexa voice designer on the project.

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