"Doing Math in Space": The 90s Scientist Behind Zhejiang's AI Satellite

"Doing Math in Space": The 90s Scientist Behind Zhejiang's AI SatelliteOn August 10, 2023, a satellite named "Diwei Intelligent Emergency No. 1" was successfully launched from Jiuquan

"Doing Math in Space": The 90s Scientist Behind Zhejiang's AI Satellite

On August 10, 2023, a satellite named "Diwei Intelligent Emergency No. 1" was successfully launched from Jiuquan. Developed by "Diwei II," a Hangzhou-based company in Zhejiang, this satellite is the first "AI satellite" from Zhejiang, carrying the dream of Kang Yashu, a 90s AI scientist, to change the world with AI.

Kang Yashu, a young man who originally studied transportation, decided to cross disciplines and learn computer science because of his interest in spatial information analysis. He eventually became Diwei II's chief AI scientist. He led his team to build an "AI brain" for this satellite, enabling it to perform crucial data analysis directly in space, transforming the traditional "store in space, calculate on earth" model to "sense in space, calculate in space".

From Transportation to Space: A Brave Leap

Kang Yashu's connection with space stemmed from a casual trip. In 2011, when he first arrived in the United States, he visited the NASA Space Center in Houston with his friends, where he saw the remains of the Apollo spacecraft. At that moment, he was deeply fascinated by the charm of space technology.

However, Kang Yashu's professional background was in transportation. He earned a bachelor's degree in Railway Transportation from Beijing Jiaotong University and continued his studies, earning a master's degree in Transportation Planning and Management. He once thought his career would be closely related to railways, highways, or urban transportation planning.

But a chance encounter changed his trajectory. While pursuing his doctorate in transportation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he took a course called "Spatial Information Analysis," which sparked his interest in applying AI to space exploration.

With trepidation, Kang Yashu expressed his desire to pursue a master's degree in computer science to his advisor. To his surprise, his advisor not only didn't oppose it but encouraged him to try it boldly and offered support.

Ultimately, Kang Yashu, with his cross-disciplinary background and exceptional learning abilities, successfully obtained a master's degree in computer science from Georgia Tech and eventually earned two doctorates in transportation and statistics. This experience not only enriched his knowledge base but also filled him with anticipation for the future.

From 0 to 1: Building the AI Brain in Space

In 2021, Kang Yashu joined Diwei II, a team composed of core experts from companies like ZTE, dedicated to building world-leading space intelligence technology.

Under the leadership of Wen Zhuoming, the company's founder and CEO, Kang Yashu embarked on a challenge from scratch: building an AI brain for "Diwei Intelligent Emergency No. 1," enabling it to analyze data autonomously.

This was an unprecedented attempt. Traditional satellites needed to transmit photos back to Earth for analysis, which was time-consuming and inefficient. Kang Yashu and his team hoped to deploy a new computational architecture and algorithm models to enable the satellite to process data directly in space.

This process was full of challenges. They had to constantly explore, experiment with new algorithms and models, and conduct extensive testing and optimization. For example, to reduce the "waste" rate of satellite photos, Kang Yashu's team developed a cloud cover detection algorithm that could automatically identify and filter photos obscured by clouds. To achieve real-time monitoring of fishing vessels, they developed a target recognition algorithm that could quickly identify and locate fishing vessels in large amounts of satellite imagery.

Kang Yashu and his team worked day and night, finally successfully deploying AI capabilities on "Diwei Intelligent Emergency No. 1," giving the satellite the ability to "sense in space, calculate in space".

Improving Earth from Space: A Vision for the Future

After "Diwei Intelligent Emergency No. 1" was launched, Kang Yashu and his team officially released a set of Earth panorama artworks called "Space Strings." This set of works was captured by Diwei II's independently developed "String" intelligent agent, which achieved image fusion, HDR, target recognition, and other operations in orbit.

The "String" intelligent agent is like a smartphone with various applications, and these applications are the algorithms developed by Kang Yashu and his team. It can perform different tasks based on different needs, such as monitoring forest fires, predicting floods, assessing soil moisture, and so on.

Kang Yashu believes that in the future, intelligent satellites will have more powerful computing power, provide faster data processing efficiency, and further enhance a country's governance capabilities. His team is collaborating with multiple countries to apply the "Space Strings" technology to various fields such as water conservancy, forestry, and firefighting, contributing to the future of Earth.

From transportation to space, from engineer to scientist, Kang Yashu's career has been full of challenges and opportunities. He has proven with his actions that cross-disciplinary backgrounds and the ability to continuously learn can unlock endless possibilities in life.

He firmly believes that AI will play an increasingly important role in space exploration in the future. He will continue to lead his team to explore the mysteries of the universe, use technology to improve Earth, and create a better future.

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