Genetic Programming in use at NASA

NASA has announced that in March it will launch three small Space Technology (ST5) satellites into orbit. Each will be carrying a small antenna that was evolved by a network of computers using Genetic Programming. This will be the first artificially evolved object to have flown in space.

The GP software is running on 80 personal computers, and has since been used to evolve other designs including microscopic gyroscopes.

Update: Here is a new article from Popular Science about John Koza, the father of Genetic Programming. It mentions that the antenna was created by one of his students and gives a nice account of the history of GP.