NASA Robots Now Decide Which Info to Send Back to Earth

To further the study of Martian clouds and dust devils, software upgrades will allow the robots’ computers to make “intelligent” decisions, giving them the onboard ability to search through their images to find pictures that feature these phenomena. Only the most significant data will then be sent to Earth, maximising the scientific return from the missions.

“The idea now is to collect as much data as the instrument can, analyse them onboard for features of specific interest, and then down-link only the data that have the highest priority,” (Rebecca Castano)