The Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics is held every 10 years by many of the experts in the astronomy field. During this event, a collection of successful studies are being presented by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The aim of this collective research accumulated throughout the years is to give way to the scientific priorities that should be met for the following decade to come.
What is the Decadal Survey?
The 10-year survey in the United States has been setting up achievements and producing a collaborative effort in the field of astronomy since the 1960s. The latest survey was the seventh convention of astronomers held this year called the Astro2020, and is expected to end at the fourth quarter of the year. The survey is challenged every decade with experts hailing from various scientific communities, potential funders, and even representatives from congress. The research that will be decided on this widescale committee will be the top priority for investing time and money for the coming years.
Among the recent studies that are chosen to be focused on are the major projects regarding the development of large space telescopes and the discovery and analysis of mysterious cosmic objects including black holes and supernovas. Much of the previous report back in the Astro2010 gave way to the studies of dark energy and its origins.
Researchers that want to the Decadal Survey have the ability to present their own projects a year before the meeting. Any proposals that would potentially contribute in a major perspective are welcome, and at the moment, more than 500 of these are made available to the public.
The developments pushed this year are interesting as the previous proposals, including Jupiter's natural reaction to evade the rare, one to one thousand appearance of the Apophis asteroid. There are also studies that would want to dive more into the unexplained sciences behind our own planet instead of venturing outside space.
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AI-Powered System to Predict Studies That Should be Prioritized for the Coming Decade
Although the decade survey opens various scientific opportunities to the years to come, filtering and choosing every potential study are challenging, especially for the panel that will screen the researches. Moreover, the selection includes a number of questions that should be met in order for a proposal to be approved and potentially sent to NASA, and this consumes a lot of effort and time for a short period of the convention.
UC Santa Cruz astronomy and astrophysics expert Brant Robertson said in a Quebec News Tribune report that the Decadal Survey is the solution for NASA's future space developments and explorations, and it is crucial to for the aerospace agency to know the detailed information on the projects they will potentially be handling in the next decade.
AI is the selected solution of one team to end the painstaking process of the Decadal Survey. Instead of knowing what specific questions should be presented, this new approach will lead the experts in a much easier way of selecting the best study that should be prioritized. This AI-powered solution will help the committee predict, analyze, or formulate the studies that should come first for the coming decade, leaving the human committee to balance and decide the final call. The study was published in the journal Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, titled "Using Artificial Intelligence to Augment Science Prioritization for Astro2020."
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