Amazon and Lockheed Martin have announced plans to send Alexa to space as part of the Artemis I NASA mission. The mission will be the first of several intended to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.
Alexa will be used in NASA’s Orion spacecraft and will have access to real-time telemetry data through which it will be able to respond to thousands of mission-specific questions such as “Alexa, how fast is Orion traveling?” The virtual assistant will even process requests to control connected devices on board the Orion, starting with in-cabin lighting.
Using NASA’s Deep Space Network, Alexa can also retrieve all sorts of information from Earth for astronauts in space, whether it’s news briefings or sports scores, helping astronauts stay connected to home.
Artemis I will be an uncrewed mission because of which Amazon had to depend on a virtual crew experience at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It has been developed jointly with Lockheed Martin and Cisco. The experience will provide remote access to Callisto and simulate interactions between Alexa and future astronauts.
But it’s not just the crew and scientists that will be benefitting from the initiative, as back home, users with Alexa-compatible devices will be able to browse info on the mission. Access to Orion’s telemetry data as well as videos and photos from the mission will be granted.
Amazon will be launching the new Alexa features “closer to the mission”, but a preview is already available now available across Alexa-enabled devices. To access it, all you have say is “Alexa, take me to the Moon.”
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