Russia's Space Agency to Use AI for Astronaut Candidate Screening

Russia's space program is integrating artificial intelligence into its core operations, from selecting new cosmonauts to planning future orbital stations. First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov announced that the AI system GigaChat will soon evaluate essays written by applicants in Roscosmos's ongoing open recruitment drive. The tool will assess the logic and quality of the writing, providing an initial analysis of a candidate's psychological and emotional state.

Manturov framed this as part of a broader shift. While AI does not yet make final engineering decisions, it handles routine tasks and accelerates data processing. He cited the 'Digital Earth' platform, where algorithms automatically monitor forests, identify unauthorized land use, and track infrastructure, capturing planetary changes faster and more accurately than manual methods.

The integration extends to space itself. A Russian neural network sent to the International Space Station in late 2025 now helps crews save time by drafting reports on scientific experiments. Its role is set to expand significantly with the planned Russian Orbital Station (ROS).

The ROS concept includes an onboard high-performance computing system. This hardware would process raw data from scientific instruments and satellites directly in orbit, sending finished products—like maps, reports, and models—back to Earth. Neural networks would identify anomalies, forecast atmospheric and magnetospheric conditions, and assist in experiment planning, compressing what was once a massive workload into a matter of hours.

The latest open recruitment for cosmonauts, the fifth of its kind, began in February 2026.

Source: RIA Novosti