By R Anil Kumar
- AI offers new ways to collect, process, and interpret data.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only changing our lives on Earth, it is also creating new opportunities for exploring outer space. AI is supporting humanitarian efforts and disaster relief, tracking pollution, forecasting food crises, and predicting weather patterns.
The United Nations, via its Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), is working to ensure these technologies are developed responsibly and benefit all countries.
How does artificial intelligence enhance activities in space?
AI offers new ways to collect, process, and interpret data, significantly improving situational awareness and response times. AI algorithms help process data related to monitoring of human activities, environmental changes, and natural disasters, strengthening emergency preparedness and response plans. Additionally, AI can monitor satellite parameters, detect anomalies, predict component failures, and optimize system performance. UNOOSA notes that AI can process vast data sets with ease and deliver near-real-time images. It can filter out unusable images, prioritize useful data, and coordinate actions more quickly, often helping to save lives and resources.
UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini explains: “There are terabytes of data that are coming down from space. Much of it is unused, archived, or not as high-resolution as required. But you can enhance it with AI. For instance, we apply geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) to transform open satellite data into disaster response tools.”
GeoAI is being applied through UNOOSA’s UN-SPIDER programme (United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response).
Hamid Mehmood, Head of the UN-SPIDER Beijing Office, said: “Through UN-SPIDER, we help countries turn Earth Observation and AI into services like flood and drought mapping, rapid damage assessment, and crop health monitoring, paired with training and toolkits.” By applying AI to data from satellites, drones, and sensors, experts can improve early warning systems and provide more accurate damage assessments. Moreover, UN-SPIDER supports fair access, for example, by promoting open Earth Observation data or AI-ready datasets.
By applying AI to data from satellites, drones, and sensors, experts can improve early warning systems.
Holla-Maini also highlighted the emerging use of digital twins, which are 3D virtual models of the real-world environment made using AI on satellite images. These models let governments simulate disasters or test environmental policies: “You can simulate flood scenarios, storm surges, flash flooding, and you can identify vulnerable infrastructure. You can test response plans before disasters hit.”
Mehmood emphasized the role of AI in extending satellite lifespans and preventing debris: “On-board AI can filter bad imagery, predict anomalies, and trigger safe-mode before faults become break-ups.” Ground AI can help cut collision risk and fuel burn. Mehmood added that AI is also critical for debris removal by targeting prioritization and vision-based navigation.
Managing the risks:
The use of AI in space exploration shows great potential but also raises significant ethical and governance challenges. AI allows autonomous monitoring, satellite control, collision avoidance, and debris mitigation. However, without clear rules and standards, the use of AI in space can also create risks, raising ethical questions and practical issues.
Some of the key challenges include:
Fairness and inclusivity. AI learns from the data it is trained on. If that data comes from a specific region, models can misinterpret conditions in other areas. Access to high‑quality Earth Observation data, computing power, and skilled personnel can be uneven, leaving many countries behind. To address this issue, we require more diverse data and broader, equitable access to tools and training.
Climate resilience and sustainability. AI and Earth Observation can help countries adapt to climate change, lower emissions, and track progress. However, developing and operating AI for space must itself be sustainable. We need to focus on energy use and the environmental impacts of AI throughout its entire life cycle.
Data integrity. AI can make it easier to alter or misinterpret geospatial data, increasing the risk of misinformation. We need clear ownership and licensing, as well as the ability to safeguard sensitive information while enabling its beneficial use.
Holla-Maini warned that if satellite images were altered, the consequences could be devastating: “We cannot risk that images provided to first responders have been tampered with or manipulated. The consequences can be dire. So we are trying to champion responsible AI in space.”
Mehmood also pointed to risks that require urgent attention: “Opaque autonomy and weak human oversight can lead to unsafe actions during operations.” He added that bias and poor transfer across regions can harm users, especially in the Global South, if models are not fairly trained and not audited. Moreover, the high energy footprint of large models must be managed.
UNOOSA recommends (among others) establishing frameworks to ensure trustworthy, inclusive, and sustainable AI through ethical, transparent, and human‑controlled AI for space operations, responsible development, and data integrity to prevent manipulation.
How is UNOOSA making sure AI in space benefits all of humanity?
During the Global Dialogue on AI Governance in 2025, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that “the trajectory of Artificial Intelligence will depend on our readiness to listen, to adapt, and to cooperate – across borders and disciplines.”
UNOOSA plays a crucial role in making these discussions practical. As Holla-Maini noted: “At the UN system level, we connect space use cases to global AI governance debates, and we try to ensure that policies on AI reflect real mission needs on the ground.”
UNOOSA and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) review international cooperation in peaceful uses of space and explore space-related activities that the UN could undertake. They promote global standards for safety, transparency, and human control, stressing that international cooperation is essential to prevent misuse and ensure accountability.
Additionally, through its Access to Space for All initiative, UNOOSA has launched training and webinars on how AI can work with space technology to help countries access the benefits of space science.
Conclusion
AI and space together represent myriad opportunities—and significant responsibilities. They can strengthen disaster preparedness, support sustainable development, and provide early warnings of humanitarian crises.
“We need a code of practice for AI in space that ensures explainability, human control, safety checks, and post-incident learning. Equitable access and clear provenance are essential if AI in space is to serve everyone, not just the most advanced actors,” Mehmood underlined.
Looking ahead, the UN Secretary-General has called for stronger norms to ensure that AI is safer, more inclusive, and more accountable, serving humanity rather than undermining it. Human control, coherence, transparency, capacity-building, and equitable access will be key. This way, AI in space can become a shared tool for resilience and cooperation, not a source of division.
(Based on United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Report)
