Can one discuss winning an “AI race” without the invitation of the nation’s most historic space agency to the starting gate? The White House’s newly debuted AI.gov portal and its 28-page “America’s AI Action Plan” have ignited a tide of talk not least for their in-your-face lack of mention of NASA in the federal government’s new AI agenda, after a rhetorical tip of the hat to the space race on page one.
The Action Plan, as part of a broad agenda for establishing U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence, relies significantly on the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These entities are charged with spurring innovation, expanding the country’s AI infrastructure, and conducting international AI diplomacy. The strategy outlines more than 90 policy measures, ranging from accelerating the development of large-scale data centers and semiconductor fabs to updating procurement rules that favor “truth-seeking and trustworthy” AI systems. “The goal here is for the United States to win the AI race,” stated David Sacks, the administration’s crypto and AI czar, on a press call.
Still, for all its gush about infrastructure and innovation, the Action Plan fails to provide even a substantive reference to NASA or the revolutionary potential of AI in space exploration. The oversight is surprising, particularly since NASA’s ongoing AI research projects are not merely ambitious but representative of the very frontier technology the plan professes to celebrate. NASA’s Perseverance rover, for example, is dependent on sophisticated AI for autonomous travel over the Martian terrain, employing tools such as PIXL to probe rock samples and hunt forsigns of life long past functions impossible without machine learning and automation. The Curiosity rover uses AI similarly to autonomously choose laser targets for chemical analysis, an essential component for missions in which real-time human intervention is not possible.
Outside of Mars, NASA’s ExoMiner deep learning computer has found 301 new exoplanets from analyzing data from the Kepler Space Telescope, showing how AI can beat both people and conventional algorithms at detecting faint cosmic patterns. AI models also study light curves for predicting supernovae and gamma ray bursts, and have helped find gravitational waves from cosmic crashes work that would be impossible for human analysts to do alone. “It is important to see AI not as a threat that will replace the work of humans but as a tool to make our work easier and more efficient,” stated David Salvagnini, NASA Chief Data Officer and Chief ArtificialIntelligence Officer in a recent interview.
The national AI governance framework, as defined in the Action Plan, is headed by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with NSF and NIST having key roles. NSF’s National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot, for instance, is a two-year pilot that seeks to offer U.S. researchers access to computational, data, and training resources for the conduct of AI research in different disciplines. Although NASA is an NAIRR partner providing data and model-building expertise in foundational modeling it is conspicuous in its absence from the Action Plan’s chief narrative, particularly as the agency leads the way in using AI for autonomous spacecraft control, satellite health assessment, and orbiting debris monitoring.
NIST’s Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework, the second pillar of the plan, provides voluntary best practices for managing risks from AI and enhancing AI system trustworthiness. The framework’s updated generative AI profile provides organizations with a way to find and address novel risks from sophisticated models across sectors. The framework’s scope remains wide, however, with minimal specifically designed attention to the exceptional opportunities and challenges of AI in space exploration.
The exclusion of NASA from the Action Plan’s main agenda is confounding in light ofthe federal government’s intentions for the incorporation of AI into its most technologically advanced fields. While the plan sends AI to install quickly in manufacturing, science, and defense, it circumvents the specific needs of space missions where AI is not merely an efficiency tool, but an imperative for autonomy and survival hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth. NASA’s own 2040 AI Track initiative, launched in 2024, aims to advance AI’s role in real-time decision-making and autonomous navigation, ensuring that future missions can adapt to unforeseen hazards and scientific opportunities without waiting for instructions from Earth.
In the broader context of federal AI policy, the Action Plan’s focus on infrastructure, deregulation, and international competition is clear. It vows to “remove red tape” for AI software developers, simplify data center permitting, and update the NIST AI Risk Management Framework to remove mention of misinformation, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and climate change. “America’s AI Action Plan charts a decisive course to cement U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence,” declared Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House OSTP. Yet, according to Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, “Without a drop of malevolence from anyone, society can just veer in a sort of strange direction.”
For the leaders in space exploration and AI policy, silence about NASA’s role is not just an omission it is a lost chance to bring America’s most forward-looking AI research under the umbrella of its most daring science missions. The question is: How can America really “win the AI race” if it keeps its most innovative explorers on the bench?
