The primary goal of the ESA's M-Argo mission is to send a small autonomous spacecraft to conduct a detailed study of an asteroid 150 million kilometres from Earth.

'The main objective of the mission is to analyse the asteroid's physical properties, such as shape, mass and composition, which will provide invaluable information on the potential use of resources present on such celestial bodies. This will be possible thanks to the development of an advanced hyperspectral imaging instrument and algorithms for processing the acquired information', says the agency’s press release.

Scientists hope that with the capability for advanced, autonomous data analysis, the M-Argo mission will significantly increase the ability to discover and understand the composition and potential resources of near-Earth asteroids.

The main contractor of the project is TSD-Space. KP Labs will be responsible for the integration and operational efficiency of AI algorithms designed to work with the hyperspectral imaging instrument. The project is also supported by Phonemic - the company's task will be to design advanced analytical tools for detailed examination of the asteroid's composition.

'For the mission, the KP Labs team adapts deep learning models to work with the FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), which is a key component of the hyperspectral imaging systems developed by TSD-Space. KP Labs' task is to develop a robust test framework that will ensure effective operation of these models in conditions of limited computing power of the spacecraft', the press release says.

It is not yet known whether the M-Argo mission will be launched in 2024. It might be postponed to 2025. (PAP)

Urszula Kaczorowska

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