Future spaceships may be controlled by thoughts

Astronauts in their future missions to Moon or Mars may be able to pilot a spacecraft using their thoughts alone, scientists say.

Researchers led by Riccardo Poli, a computer science professor at the University of Essex, have for the first time used a brain-computer interface (BCI) to control a spacecraft simulator.

However, the researchers admit that the experiment was carried in a highly simplified environment.

Working in zero gravity and trying to accomplish tasks while wearing a bulky spacesuit is challenging for astronauts in space, 'Discovery News' reported.

The lack of gravity slows down a person's motor skills. It is not easy to operate equipment while wearing gloves and a helmet or other cumbersome gear.

The scientists discovered that their BCI was far more effective when two people were hooked up to it and had to collaborate on a task in space.

That kind of enhanced decision-making ability, while good in space, could be applied to a number of high-stress situations on Earth.

The team set up at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and began by putting a cap containing 66 electrodes on a human subject.

This has the advantage of being a non-invasive way to pick up brain signals, but Poli said that trying to read EEG signals from the scalp is like trying to listen to a concert hall by standing in the street outside the venue.

To help amplify the brain signals, the team used a computer that generated special visual stimuli on a screen. This helped the human subject produce brain signals that could be analysed a little more easily.

Scientists made a simulation and presented their subject with a challenge: Steer a spaceship so that it passes within a certain distance from the Sun.

ALSO READ

Lab-created human brain cells grow in mice

Mars Curiosity rover back to work after break

Tata group to launch Croma 3G tablets in next 2 weeks

Baboons understand numbers like humans