Results for “autonomous platforms” — Page 19

NASA NTRS2007

X-Band Radar for Studies of Tropical Storms from High Altitude UAV Platform

The increased role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in NASA's suborbital program has created a strong interest in the development of instruments with new capabilities, more compact sizes and reduced weights than the instruments currently operated on manned aircrafts. There is a strong demand and tremendous potential for using high altitude UAV (HUAV) to carry weather radars for measurements of reflectivity and wind fields from tropical storms. Tropical storm genesis frequently occurs in ocean regions that are inaccessible to piloted aircraft due to the long off shore range and the required periods of time to gather significant data. Important factors of interest for the study of hurricane genesis include surface winds, profiled winds, sea surface temperatures, precipitation, and boundary layer conditions. Current satellite precipitation and surface wind sensors have resolutions that are too large and revisit times that are too infrequent to study this problem. Furthermore, none of the spaceborne sensors measure winds within the storm itself. A dual beam X-band Doppler radar, UAV Radar (URAD), is under development at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the study of tropical storms from HUAV platforms, such as a Global Hawk. X-band is the most desirable frequency for airborne weather radars since these can be built in a relatively compact size using off-the-shelf components which cost significantly less than other higher frequency radars. Furthermore, X-band radars provide good sensitivity with tolerable attenuation in storms. The low-cost and light-weight URAD will provide new capabilities for studying hurricane genesis by analyzing the vertical structure of tropical cyclones as well as 3D reflectivity and wind fields in clouds. It will enable us to measure both the 3D precipitation structure and surface winds by using two antenna beams: fixed nadir and conical scanning each produced by its associated subsystem. The nadir subsystem is a magnetron based radar modified from a marine radar transceiver. It is capable of measuring vertical reflectivity and velocity profile while being a lower-cost, smaller size, and lighter weight version of the NASA ER-2 Doppler Radar (EDOP), which has flown during many NASA field campaigns and has provided valuable scientific information on hurricanes and weather phenomena. Unfortunately, EDOP is too large and heavy for most UAV platforms, but the experience gained with this instrument provided us with the heritage to build a new low-cost, light-weight, smaller system that will be capable of flying on UAVs. The scanning subsystem uses a TWT transmitter and provides measurements of 3D reflectivity/wind fields in-clouds. Conical scanning of the radar beam at a 35 deg. incidence angle will also provide information of surface wind speed and direction derived from the surface return over a single 360 deg. sweep. URAD data system will be Linux based with the capability of autonomous operation. It will utilize cutting edge digital receiver and FPGA technologies to carry out the data acquisition and processing tasks. High speed navigation data from the aircraft will also be captured and saved along with radar data for 3D measurement field reconstruction and aircraft motion correction. There is a tremendous potential for UAVs to carry down-looking weather radars for measurements of reflectivity, horizontal and vertical winds from tropical storms. With operation from HUAV platforms, the dual beam X-band radar under development promises to provide greatly needed information for tropical storm research.

Rodriquez, Shannon↗

NASA NTRS1994

Development of a Power Electronics Unit for the Space Station Plasma Contactor

A hollow cathode plasma contactor has been baselined as a charge control device for the Space Station (SS) to prevent deleterious interactions of coated structural components with the ambient plasma. NASA LeRC Work Package 4 initiated the development of a plasma contactor system comprised of a Power Electronics Unit (PEU), an Expellant Management Unit (EMU), a command and data interface, and a Plasma Contactor Unit (PCU). A breadboard PEU was designed and fabricated. The breadboard PEU contains a cathode heater and discharge power supply, which were required to operate the PCU, a control and auxiliary power converter, an EMU interface, a command and telemetry interface, and a controller. The cathode heater and discharge supplies utilized a push-pull topology with a switching frequency of 20 kHz and pulse-width-modulated (PWM) control. A pulse ignition circuit derived from that used in arcjet power processors was incorporated in the discharge supply for discharge ignition. An 8088 based microcontroller was utilized in the breadboard model to provide a flexible platform for controller development with a simple command/data interface incorporating a direct connection to SS Mulitplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM) analog and digital I/O cards. Incorporating this in the flight model would eliminate the hardware and software overhead associated with a 1553 serial interface. The PEU autonomously operated the plasma contactor based on command inputs and was successfully integrated with a prototype plasma contactor unit demonstrating reliable ignition of the discharge and steady-state operation.

Hamley, John A.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Controlling multiple security robots in a warehouse environment

The Naval Command Control and Ocean Surveillance Center (NCCOSC) has developed an architecture to provide coordinated control of multiple autonomous vehicles from a single host console. The multiple robot host architecture (MRHA) is a distributed multiprocessing system that can be expanded to accommodate as many as 32 robots. The initial application will employ eight Cybermotion K2A Navmaster robots configured as remote security platforms in support of the Mobile Detection Assessment and Response System (MDARS) Program. This paper discusses developmental testing of the MRHA in an operational warehouse environment, with two actual and four simulated robotic platforms.

Everett, H. R.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA's Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems: Development and Demonstration of Technologies Enabling Swarms and New Spacecraft Platforms with AI and Edge Computing

NASA’s Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems (SSDS) within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate (RTMD) expands U.S. capability to execute unique missions through targeted investment, rapid development, and flight demonstration of small spacecraft technologies applicable to exploration, science and the commercial space sector. SSDS strategically invests in technology development and on-orbit demonstrations executed across NASA, other government agencies, industry, and academia. The program’s University SmallSat Technology Partnerships initiative awards academic researchers with the opportunity to collaborate with NASA to mature innovative technology. Capabilities aligned with RTMD’s technology shortfalls and interests - power, processing, propulsion, sensors, communications, autonomous navigation, architectures, and advanced applications like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and edge computing - are prioritized in SSDS investments. These investments enable distributed, autonomous, and cooperative small spacecraft systems that support swarm missions extending beyond low Earth orbit into cislunar and deep space. This paper highlights representative SSDS flight demonstrations that mature these capabilities to enable a future operational infrastructure needed to support sustained exploration of the Moon and beyond. SSDS’s investment strategy emphasizes rapid development and on-orbit demonstration to validate spacecraft technologies required for swarms and distributed mission architectures. The Starling swarm technology demonstration mission exemplifies this approach by advancing distributed spacecraft autonomy, cooperative operations, and space situational awareness. Extended flight testing and ongoing studies of next generation swarm configurations and on-orbit space traffic monitoring and management continue to inform future swarm designs. DiskSat’s four-spacecraft demonstration mission represents SSDS’s strategic vision to expand the design space for future small spacecraft through its commitment to advance novel platform concepts that can impact how science is performed on orbit. Continuing to invest in future platforms, the notional PY12 concept is a 12-spacecraft swarm hosting neuromorphic processors and is envisioned as an on-orbit testbed for AI, edge computing, and positioning, navigation and timing technologies. SSDS also invests in single-spacecraft technology demonstrations that underpin the success of future swarm missions and accelerate the availability of validated technologies across the small spacecraft ecosystem. Examples of such demonstrations include Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3 (PTD-3), which performed high-rate optical communications; PTD-R, which demonstrated a camera capable of simultaneous ultraviolet and short-wave infrared optical sensing; and CAPSTONE, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology and Operations Navigation Experiment, which validated autonomous navigation in cislunar space. Collectively, SSDS-funded demonstrations advance capabilities across swarms and illustrate a coordinated investment strategy to mature high-impact technologies required for autonomous, distributed, and cooperative small spacecraft systems for low Earth orbit, cislunar, and deep space applications. Technology demonstrations strengthen SSDS partnerships with industry, academia, and other government agencies, and promote small spacecraft community adoption of capabilities required to close technical gaps for swarm missions.

Jan Stupl↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA's Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems: Development and Demonstration of Technologies Enabling Swarms and New Spacecraft Platforms with AI and Edge Computing

NASA’s Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems (SSDS) within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate (RTMD) expands U.S. capability to execute unique missions through targeted investment, rapid development, and flight demonstration of small spacecraft technologies applicable to exploration, science and the commercial space sector. SSDS strategically invests in technology development and on-orbit demonstrations executed across NASA, other government agencies, industry, and academia. The program’s University SmallSat Technology Partnerships initiative awards academic researchers with the opportunity to collaborate with NASA to mature innovative technology. Capabilities aligned with RTMD’s technology shortfalls and interests - power, processing, propulsion, sensors, communications, autonomous navigation, architectures, and advanced applications like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and edge computing - are prioritized in SSDS investments. These investments enable distributed, autonomous, and cooperative small spacecraft systems that support swarm missions extending beyond low Earth orbit into cislunar and deep space. This paper highlights representative SSDS flight demonstrations that mature these capabilities to enable a future operational infrastructure needed to support sustained exploration of the Moon and beyond. SSDS’s investment strategy emphasizes rapid development and on-orbit demonstration to validate spacecraft technologies required for swarms and distributed mission architectures. The Starling swarm technology demonstration mission exemplifies this approach by advancing distributed spacecraft autonomy, cooperative operations, and space situational awareness. Extended flight testing and ongoing studies of next generation swarm configurations and on-orbit space traffic monitoring and management continue to inform future swarm designs. DiskSat’s four-spacecraft demonstration mission represents SSDS’s strategic vision to expand the design space for future small spacecraft through its commitment to advance novel platform concepts that can impact how science is performed on orbit. Continuing to invest in future platforms, the notional PY12 concept is a 12-spacecraft swarm hosting neuromorphic processors and is envisioned as an on-orbit testbed for AI, edge computing, and positioning, navigation and timing technologies. SSDS also invests in single-spacecraft technology demonstrations that underpin the success of future swarm missions and accelerate the availability of validated technologies across the small spacecraft ecosystem. Examples of such demonstrations include Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3 (PTD-3), which performed high-rate optical communications; PTD-R, which demonstrated a camera capable of simultaneous ultraviolet and short-wave infrared optical sensing; and CAPSTONE, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology and Operations Navigation Experiment, which validated autonomous navigation in cislunar space. Collectively, SSDS-funded demonstrations advance capabilities across swarms and illustrate a coordinated investment strategy to mature high-impact technologies required for autonomous, distributed, and cooperative small spacecraft systems for low Earth orbit, cislunar, and deep space applications. Technology demonstrations strengthen SSDS partnerships with industry, academia, and other government agencies, and promote small spacecraft community adoption of capabilities required to close technical gaps for swarm missions.

Jan Stupl↗

NASA NTRS2010

Micro/Nanoscale Chemicalsensor Systems for Aerospace Applications

The aerospace industry requires development of a range of chemical-sensor technologies for applications including emissions monitoring as well as fuel-leak and fire detection. Improvements in sensing technology are necessary to increase safety, reduce emissions, and increase performance. The overall aim is to develop intelligent-vehicle systems that can autonomously monitor their state and respond to environmental changes. A range of chemical sensors is under development to meet these needs, based in part on microfabrication technology which produces sensors of minimal size, weight, and power consumption. We have fabricated a range of sensor platforms, integrated them with hardware to form complete sensor systems, and demonstrated their applicability.

Hunter, Gary↗

NASA NTRS2016

Flight Analysis of an Autonomously Navigated Experimental Lander

First steps have been taken to qualify a family of parafoil systems capable of increasing the survivability and reusability of high-altitude balloon payloads. The research is motivated by the common risk facing balloon payloads where expensive flight hardware can often land in inaccessible areas that make them difficult or impossible to recover. The Autonomously Navigated Experimental Lander (ANGEL) flight test introduced a commercial Guided Parachute Aerial Delivery System (GPADS) to a previously untested environment at 108,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL) to determine its high-altitude survivability and capabilities. Following release, ANGEL descended under a drogue until approximately 25,000 feet, at which point the drogue was jettisoned and the main parachute was deployed, commencing navigation. Multiple data acquisition platforms were used to characterize the return-to-point technology performance and help determine its suitability for returning future scientific payloads ranging from 180 to 10,000 pounds to safer and more convenient landing locations. This report describes the test vehicle design, and summarizes the captured sensor data. Various post-flight analyses are used to quantify the systems performance, gondola load data, and serve as a reference point for subsequent missions.

Parafoil↗

NASA NTRS2003

The Logical Extension

The same software controlling autonomous and crew-assisted operations for the International Space Station (ISS) is enabling commercial enterprises to integrate and automate manual operations, also known as decision logic, in real time across complex and disparate networked applications, databases, servers, and other devices, all with quantifiable business benefits. Auspice Corporation, of Framingham, Massachusetts, developed the Auspice TLX (The Logical Extension) software platform to effectively mimic the human decision-making process. Auspice TLX automates operations across extended enterprise systems, where any given infrastructure can include thousands of computers, servers, switches, and modems that are connected, and therefore, dependent upon each other. The concept behind the Auspice software spawned from a computer program originally developed in 1981 by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratory for simulating tasks performed by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. At the time, the Space Shuttle Program was dependent upon paper-based procedures for its manned space missions, which typically averaged 2 weeks in duration. As the Shuttle Program progressed, NASA began increasing the length of manned missions in preparation for a more permanent space habitat. Acknowledging the need to relinquish paper-based procedures in favor of an electronic processing format to properly monitor and manage the complexities of these longer missions, NASA realized that Draper's task simulation software could be applied to its vision of year-round space occupancy. In 1992, Draper was awarded a NASA contract to build User Interface Language software to enable autonomous operations of a multitude of functions on Space Station Freedom (the station was redesigned in 1993 and converted into the international venture known today as the ISS)

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2017

Spacecraft in the Shot: A Platform for Deep-Space Cinematography

Spacecraft In The Shot (SITS) is a breakthrough cross-disciplinary initiative that stands at the intersection of advanced technology and strategic storytelling. It aims to enhance humanity’s connection to robotic space exploration by capturing high-definition footage of heroic spacecraft along their journey through deep space. The SITS Imaging Instrument, a self-contained, highly autonomous instrument package can be included in any typical mission payload. The Instrument stores and deploys SITS imagers, or camera-carrying nanosats. As a mission approaches a key milestone in the trajectory, the SITS Instrument deploys one or more imagers that fly pre-programmed, autonomous trajectories around the host spacecraft. After the footage has been collected and downlinked to the host, the Imagers get decommissioned and left behind as the host spacecraft continues into the depths of space until the next photo opportunity.

Smith, Jonathon↗

NASA NTRS2005

Predictive Interfaces for Long-Distance Tele-Operations

We address the development of predictive tele-operator interfaces for humanoid robots with respect to two basic challenges. Firstly, we address automating the transition from fully tele-operated systems towards degrees of autonomy. Secondly, we develop compensation for the time-delay that exists when sending telemetry data from a remote operation point to robots located at low earth orbit and beyond. Humanoid robots have a great advantage over other robotic platforms for use in space-based construction and maintenance because they can use the same tools as astronauts do. The major disadvantage is that they are difficult to control due to the large number of degrees of freedom, which makes it difficult to synthesize autonomous behaviors using conventional means. We are working with the NASA Johnson Space Center's Robonaut which is an anthropomorphic robot with fully articulated hands, arms, and neck. We have trained hidden Markov models that make use of the command data, sensory streams, and other relevant data sources to predict a tele-operator's intent. This allows us to achieve subgoal level commanding without the use of predefined command dictionaries, and to create sub-goal autonomy via sequence generation from generative models. Our method works as a means to incrementally transition from manual tele-operation to semi-autonomous, supervised operation. The multi-agent laboratory experiments conducted by Ambrose et. al. have shown that it is feasible to directly tele-operate multiple Robonauts with humans to perform complex tasks such as truss assembly. However, once a time-delay is introduced into the system, the rate of tele\ioperation slows down to mimic a bump and wait type of activity. We would like to maintain the same interface to the operator despite time-delays. To this end, we are developing an interface which will allow for us to predict the intentions of the operator while interacting with a 3D virtual representation of the expected state of the robot. The predictive interface anticipates the intention of the operator, and then uses this prediction to initiate appropriate sub-goal autonomy tasks.

Wheeler, Kevin R.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Technology Advancement for Active Remote Sensing of Carbon Dioxide from Space Using the ASCENDS CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator: First Results

The ASCENDS CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator (ACES) is a newly developed lidar developed at NASA Langley Research Center and funded by NASA's Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) that seeks to advance technologies critical to measuring atmospheric column carbon dioxide (CO2) mixing ratios in support of the NASA Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission. The technology advancements targeted include: (1) increasing the power-aperture product to approach ASCENDS mission requirements by implementing multi-aperture telescopes and multiple co-aligned laser transmitters; (2) incorporating high-efficiency, high-power Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs); (3) developing and incorporating a high-bandwidth, low-noise HgCdTe detector and transimpedence amplifier (TIA) subsystem capable of long-duration autonomous operation on Global Hawk aircraft, and (4) advancing algorithms for cloud and aerosol discrimination. The ACES instrument architecture is being developed for operation on high-altitude aircraft and will be directly scalable to meet the ASCENDS mission requirements. These technologies are critical towards developing not only spaceborne instruments but also their airborne simulators, with lower platform requirements for size, mass, and power, and with improved instrument performance for the ASCENDS mission. ACES transmits five laser beams: three from commercial EDFAs operating near 1.57 microns, and two from the Exelis oxygen (O2) Raman fiber laser amplifier system operating near 1.26 microns. The three EDFAs are capable of transmitting up to 10 watts average optical output power each and are seeded by compact, low noise, stable, narrow-linewidth laser sources stabilized with respect to a CO2 absorption line using a multi-pass gas absorption cell. The Integrated-Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) lidar approach is used at both wavelengths to independently measure the CO2 and O2 column number densities and retrieve the average column CO2 mixing ratio. The ACES receiver uses three fiber-coupled 17.8-cm diameter athermal telescopes. The transmitter assembly consists of five fiber-coupled laser collimators and an associated Risley prism pair for each laser to co-align the outgoing laser beams and to align them with the telescope field of view. The backscattered return signals collected by the three telescopes are combined in a fiber bundle and sent to a single low noise detector. The detector/TIA development has improved the existing detector subsystem by increasing its bandwidth to 4.7 MHz from 500 kHz and increasing the duration of autonomous, service-free operation periods from 4 hours to >24 hours. The new detector subsystem enables the utilization of higher laser modulation rates, which provides greater flexibility for implementing advanced thin-cloud discrimination algorithms as well as improving range-determination resolution and error reduction. The cloud/aerosol discrimination algorithm development by Langley and Exelis features a new suite of algorithms for the minimization/elimination of bias errors in the return signal induced by the presence of intervening thin clouds. Multiple laser modulation schemes are being tested in an effort to significantly mitigate the effects of thin clouds on the retrieved CO2 column amounts. Full instrument development concluded in the spring of 2014. After ground range tests of the instrument, ACES successfully completed six test flights on the Langley Hu-25 aircraft in July, 2014, and recorded data at multiple altitudes over land and ocean surfaces with and without intervening clouds. Preliminary results from these test flights will be presented in this paper.

Obland, Michael D.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Robotic Subsurface Analyzer and Sample Handler for Resource Reconnaissance and Preliminary Site Assessment for ISRU Activities at the Lunar Cold Traps

Since the 1960s, claims have been made that water ice deposits should exist in permanently shadowed craters near both lunar poles. Recent interpretations of data from the Lunar Prospector-Neutron Spectrometer (LP- NS) confirm that significant concentrations of hydrogen exist, probably in the form of water ice, in the permanently shadowed polar cold traps. Yet, due to the large spatial resolution (45-60 Ian) of the LP-NS measurements relative to these shadowed craters (approx.5-25 km), these data offer little certainty regarding the precise location, form or distribution of these deposits. Even less is known about how such deposits of water ice might effect lunar regolith physical properties relevant to mining, excavation, water extraction and construction. These uncertainties will need to be addressed in order to validate fundamental lunar In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) precepts by 2011. Given the importance of the in situ utilization of water and other resources to the future of space exploration a need arises for the advanced deployment of a robotic and reconfigurable system for physical properties and resource reconnaissance. Based on a collection of high-TRL. designs, the Subsurface Analyzer and Sample Handler (SASH) addresses these needs, particularly determining the location and form of water ice and the physical properties of regolith. SASH would be capable of: (1) subsurface access via drilling, on the order of 3-10 meters into both competent targets (ice, rock) and regolith, (2) down-hole analysis through drill string embedded instrumentation and sensors (Neutron Spectrometer and Microscopic Imager), enabling water ice identification and physical properties measurements; (3) core and unconsolidated sample acquisition from rock and regolith; (4) sample handling and processing, with minimized contamination, sample containerization and delivery to a modular instrument payload. This system would be designed with three mission enabling goals, including: (1) a self-contained, low power, low mass, "black box'' configuration for operations from a lander, various classes of rovers or a surface-based platform with human assistance or robotic anchoring mechanisms; (2) reconfigurable and scalable sample handling for delivery to various types of instrumentation, depending on mission requirements; and (3) the use of advanced automation control and diagnostic techniques that will afford local human deployed, remote teleoperation and fully autonomous intelligent operations. Though a great deal of technology has been advanced toward these objectives, the SASH system faces significant design challenges, including the low gravity environment, various levels of autonomy in operations, radiation exposure, dust contamination, and temperature extremes and deltas. Significant input from the scientific and engineering communities, as well as a significant environmental testing program, will be required to guide the design process.

Gorevan, S. P.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Loosely Coupled GPS-Aided Inertial Navigation System for Range Safety

The Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) aims to replace the human element of range safety operations, as well as reduce reliance on expensive, downrange assets for launches of expendable launch vehicles (ELVs). The system consists of multiple navigation sensors and flight computers that provide a highly reliable platform. It is designed to ensure that single-event failures in a flight computer or sensor will not bring down the whole system. The flight computer uses a rules-based structure derived from range safety requirements to make decisions whether or not to destroy the rocket.

Heatwole, Scott↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mass Inferencing Model Creation and Deployment to the RASSOR Lunar Excavation Robot

The Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Excavator is a mobile robotic bucket-drum excavator platform with a unique space regolith excavation capability. The Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced RASSOR research project developed functionality for estimating the quantity of regolith mass ingested during RASSOR operation, enhancing RASSOR’s ability to successfully complete In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) missions. To teleoperate or run autonomously, it is crucial for the amount of regolith mass ingested to be available as a system state for efficient operation. For example, during autonomous operation, RASSOR should navigate and move to a processing plant to offload the collected regolith when the drums are full; without knowledge of the total mass in the drums, this type of high-level planning is not possible. Three distinct modeling approaches were employed in developing a mass inferencing approach that could work on RASSOR, none of which require modification to the hardware. All take in system states, such as arm/drum motor positions, velocities, currents, voltages, and robot pose, and output a mass prediction for each set of the robot’s bucket drums. The developed models run in real-time, outputting predictions for the front drum mass, rear drum mass, timestamp of the last prediction, and total drum mass (sum of front and rear) in RASSOR’s drums. Models deployed to the hardware have low error (<7.5% mean error over the mass range, and <2.6% mean error when drums are more than half full) when making predictions in real-time. Our modeling approach can be adapted to use lunar excavation data to create models that are reflective of RASSOR’s dynamics when operating on the lunar surface. The results of this work are promising and show that models can be developed to accurately estimate excavated regolith mass.

Bucket Drum Excavators↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mass Inferencing Model Creation and Deployment to the RASSOR Lunar Excavation Robot

The Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Excavator is a mobile robotic bucket-drum excavator platform with a unique space regolith excavation capability. The Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced RASSOR research project developed functionality for estimating the quantity of regolith mass ingested during RASSOR operation, enhancing RASSOR’s ability to successfully complete In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) missions. To teleoperate or run autonomously, it is crucial for the amount of regolith mass ingested to be available as a system state for efficient operation. For example, during autonomous operation, RASSOR should navigate and move to a processing plant to offload the collected regolith when the drums are full; without knowledge of the total mass in the drums, this type of high-level planning is not possible. Three distinct modeling approaches were employed in developing a mass inferencing approach that could work on RASSOR, none of which require modification to the hardware. All take in system states, such as arm/drum motor positions, velocities, currents, voltages, and robot pose, and output a mass prediction for each set of the robot’s bucket drums. The developed models run in real-time, outputting predictions for the front drum mass, rear drum mass, timestamp of the last prediction, and total drum mass (sum of front and rear) in RASSOR’s drums. Models deployed to the hardware have low error (<7.5% mean error over the mass range, and <2.6% mean error when drums are more than half full) when making predictions in real-time. Our modeling approach can be adapted to use lunar excavation data to create models that are reflective of RASSOR’s dynamics when operating on the lunar surface. The results of this work are promising and show that models can be developed to accurately estimate excavated regolith mass.

bucket drum excavators↗

NASA NTRS2003

Obtaining the Greatest Scientific Benefit from Observational Platforms by Consideration of the Relative Benefit of Observations

One of the current trends in spacecraft software design is to increase the autonomy of onboard flight and science software. This is especially true when real-time observations may affect the observation schedule of a mission. For many science missions, such as those conducted by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope, the ability of the spacecraft to autonomously respond in real-time to unpredicted science events is crucial for mission success. We apply utility theory within resource management middleware to optimize the real-time performance of application software and achieve maximum system level benefit. We then explore how this methodology can be extended to manage both software and observational resources onboard a spacecraft to achieve the best possible observations.

Chelberg, David↗

NASA NTRS1986

Space station

The Space Station is being defined as a multi-purpose facility with emphasis in the following areas: scientific and technology research laboratory; permanent observatory; spacecraft servicing facility; construction and assembly facility; manufacturing facility; transportation node; and staging base for future space endeavors. The Station complex, in its initial operating capability configuration, includes a continuously habitable manned element, a polar orbiting unmanned platform, and a second unmanned platform co-orbiting with the manned element. All elements are dependent on the Space Transportation System (STS) for initial placement on-orbit and for subsequent logistical services. The manned element will be designed for long duration operations with systems maintainable on-orbit and operationally autonomous from ground control. A major feature of the Station will be its adaptability to evolutionary technology upgrades; and the Space Station, as a system, is to be designed for maximum ease of use by its users.

Thompson, D. R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

An autonomous satellite architecture integrating deliberative reasoning and behavioural intelligence

This paper describes a method for the design of autonomous spacecraft, based upon behavioral approaches to intelligent robotics. First, a number of previous spacecraft automation projects are reviewed. A methodology for the design of autonomous spacecraft is then presented, drawing upon both the European Space Agency technological center (ESTEC) automation and robotics methodology and the subsumption architecture for autonomous robots. A layered competency model for autonomous orbital spacecraft is proposed. A simple example of low level competencies and their interaction is presented in order to illustrate the methodology. Finally, the general principles adopted for the control hardware design of the AUSTRALIS-1 spacecraft are described. This system will provide an orbital experimental platform for spacecraft autonomy studies, supporting the exploration of different logical control models, different computational metaphors within the behavioral control framework, and different mappings from the logical control model to its physical implementation.

Lindley, Craig A.↗