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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

(abstract) Sciencecraft

The technological capabilities are now at hand to design an integrated system that combines science instruments, spacecraft, and propulsion elements into a single system. The authors have called this a sciencecraft since it is intended to provide automatic scientific observations of planetary and astrophysical objects. Integration of function allows lower mass and cost and supports a short development cycle. A specific science mission is described in this paper, a flyby of Neptune, Triton, and an object in the Kuiper belt. The SCIENCECRAFT system is described. It has electric propulsion and is capable of measuring the surface constituents and morphology of objects visited and characterizing their atmospheres both in emission and adsorption (against the Sun). Miniature fields and particles experiments are incorporated that will provide interplanetary information together with details of the magnetic and electric attributes of each object. The Sciencecraft is Delta launched and has a flight time to the Kuiper belt of 7 years. The design is such that the craft functions in a largely autonomous mode to provide low cost mission operations.

planetary astrophysics science instruments spacecr↗
NASA NTRS1995

Architecture Of A Sciencecraft To Fly Past Pluto

Two reports discuss architecture of proposed small sciencecraft carrying scientific instruments on trajectory passing near Pluto and continuing into interstellar space. Emphasizes those aspects of design pertaining to compactness, efficiency, and small mass (dry mass less than 100 kg). System block diagram of sciencecraft divided into blocks for sensors, integrated microelectronics, and motive effectors.

Price, Humphrey W.↗
NASA NTRS1996

The Sciencecraft Process

In this paper, the authors propose a new process for the development and operation of inmanned vehicles for the exploration of space. We call the vehicle Sciencecraft to distinguish it from the more traditional vehicle Spacecraft. A Sciencecraft is an integrated unit that combines science instruments, electronics, telecommunications, power, and propulsion elements into a single system.

spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2003

The autonomous sciencecraft constellations

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) will fly onboard the Air Force TechSat 21 constellation of three spacecraft scheduled for launch in 2006. ASE uses onboard continuous planning, robust task and goal-based execution, model-based mode identification and reconfiguration, and onboard machine learning and pattern recognition to radically increase science return by enabling intelligent downlink selection and autonomous retargeting. In this paper we discuss how these AI technologies are synergistically integrated in a hybrid multi-layer control architecture to enable a virtual spacecraft science agent. Demonstration of these capabilities in a flight environment will open up tremendous new opportunities in planetary science, space physics, and earth science that would be unreachable without this technology.

Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment ASE AI technolo↗
NASA NTRS2002

Autonomous sciencecraft experiment : NASA New Millennium Program

In 2006, the Air Force TechSat 21 mission will fly the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE). ASE will perform onboard: science analysis, mission re-planning, and robust execution. These technologies will enable TechSat 21 to respond onboard to sciene opportunities by retargeting future science observations and returning only the most important science data. This capability can dramatically increase science return and is central to future mission concepts to monitor dynamic phenomena such as lo volcanoes, the Europa ice crust, and Martian sandstorms.

Autonomous sciencecraft experiment↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Techsat-21 autonomous sciencecraft experiment

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment flight demonstration (ASE) will fly onboard the US Air Forces's TechSat-21 constellation, an unclassified mission scheduled for launch in 2004. ASE will use onboard science analysis, replanning, robust execution, and formation flying to radically increase science return by enabling intelligent downlink selection and autonomous retargeting.

autonomous↗
NASA NTRS2003

Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) Test Operations in 2003

NASA has identified the development of an autonomously operating spacecraft as a necessity for an expanded program of missions exploring the Solar System. The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) has been selected for flight demonstration by NASA s New Millennium Program (NMP) as part of the Space Technology 6 (ST6) mission. ASE is scheduled to fly on the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Techsat-21 constellation in 2006. Tech- Sat-21 consists of three satellites flying in a variable-geometry formation in Earth orbit. Each satellite is equipped with X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, yielding high spatial resolution images (approx. 3 m) of the Earth s surface. The constellation will fly at an altitude of 550 km, in a 35.4 inclination circular orbit, yielding exact repeat-track observations every 13 days. Prior to full deployment, elements of the versatile ASE spacecraft command and control software, image formation software and science processing software will be utilized and tested on two very different platforms in 2003: AirSAR and EO-1 (described below). Advantages of Autonomous Operations: ASE will demonstrate advanced autonomous science data acquisition, processing, and product downlink prioritization, as well as autonomous spacecraft command and control, and fault detection. The advantages of spacecraft autonomy are to future missions include: (a) making the best use of reduced downlink; (b) the overcoming of communication delays through decisionmaking in situ, enabling fast reaction to dynamic events; (c) an increase of science content per byte of returned data; and (d) an avoidance of return of null (no-change/no feature) datasets: if there is no change detectable between two scenes of the same target, there is no need to return the second dataset.

Chien, S.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) Operations on EO-1 in 2004

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) has been selected for flight demonstration by NASAs New Millennium Program (NMP) as part of the Space Technology 6 (ST6) mission. NASA has identified the development of an autonomously operating spacecraft as a necessity for an expanded program of missions exploring the Solar System. The versatile ASE spacecraft command and control software, image formation software, and science processing software will be uploaded to the Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) spacecraft in early 2004 to detect surface modification related to volcanism, ice formation and retreat, and flooding.

Davies, A. G.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Monitoring Floods with NASA's ST6 Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment: Implications on Planetary Exploration

NASA's New Millennium Program (NMP) Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) [1-3] has been successfully demonstrated in Earth-orbit. NASA has identified the development of an autonomously operating spacecraft as a necessity for an expanded program of missions exploring the Solar System. The versatile ASE spacecraft command and control, image formation, and science processing software was uploaded to the Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) spacecraft in early 2004 and has been undergoing onboard testing since May 2004 for the near real-time detection of surface modification related to transient geological and hydrological processes such as volcanism [4], ice formation and retreat [5], and flooding [6]. Space autonomy technology developed as part of ASE creates the new capability to autonomously detect, assess, react to, and monitor dynamic events such as flooding. Part of the challenge has been the difficulty to observe flooding in real time at sufficient temporal resolutions; more importantly, it is the large spatial extent of most drainage networks coupled with the size of the data sets necessary to be downlinked from satellites that make it difficult to monitor flooding from space. Below is a description of the algorithms (referred to as ASE Flood water Classifiers) used in tandem with the Hyperion spectrometer instrument on EO-1 to identify flooding and some of the test results.

Ip, Felipe↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Techsat-21 Autonomous Sciencecraft Constellation demonstration

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Constellation flight demonstration (ASC) will fly onboard the Air Forces's TechSat-21 constellation. Demonstration of its capabilities in a flight environment will open up tremendous new opportunities in planetary science, space physics, and earth science that would be unreadable without this technology.

scheduling planning resources model based sytems↗
NASA NTRS2004

The autonomous sciencecraft experiment onboard the EO-1 spacecraft

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE), currently flying onboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-I) spacecraft, integrates several autonomy software technologies enabling autonomous science analysis and mission planning. The experiment demonstrates the potential for future space missions to use onboard decision-making to respond autonomously to capture short-lived science phenomena. The AAAI software demonstration will consist of two sections: a real-time display of an ASE-commanded ground contact from the EO-1 spacecraft, and a simulation of the full ASE autonomous science-response scenario.

Earth Observatory (EO)↗
NASA NTRS2005

Intelligent systems in space : the EO-1 Autonomous Sciencecraft

The Autonomous Sciencecraft Software (ASE) is currently flying onboard the Earth Observing One (EO-1) Spacecraft. This software enables the spacecraft to autonomously detect and respond to science events occurring on the Earth. The package includes software systems that perform science data analysis, deliberative planning, and runtime robust execution. Because of the deployment to the EO-1 spacecraft, the ASE software has stringent constraints of autonomy and limited computing resources. We describe these constraints and how they are reflected in our operations approach. A summary of the final results of the experiment is also included. This software has demonstrated the potential for space missions to use onboard decision-making to detect, analyze, and respond to science events, and to downlink only the highest value science data. As a result, ground-based mission planning and analysis functions have been greatly simplified, thus reducing operations cost.

Earth Observing One (EO-1) Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2005

Safe Agents in Space: Preventing and Responding to Anomalies in the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment

This paper describes the design of the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment, a software agent that has been running on-board the EO-I spacecraft since 2003. The agent recognizes science events, retargets the spacecraft to respond to the science events, and reduces data downlink to only the highest value science data. The autonomous science agent was designed using a layered architectural approach with specific redundant safeguards to reduce the risk of an agent malfUnction to the EO-I spacecraft. The agent was designed to be "safe" by first preventing anomalies, then by automatically detecting and responding to them when possible. This paper describes elements of the design that increase the safety of the agent, the anomalies that occurred during the experiment, and how the agent responded to these anomalies.

autonomous science agent↗
NASA NTRS2004

The TechSat 21 Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment

Software has been developed to perform a number of functions essential to autonomous operation in the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE), which is scheduled to be demonstrated aboard a constellation of three spacecraft, denoted TechSat 21, to be launched by the Air Force into orbit around the Earth in January 2006. A prior version of this software was reported in Software for an Autonomous Constellation of Satellites (NPO-30355), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 11 (November 2002), page 44. The software includes the following components: Algorithms to analyze image data, generate scientific data products, and detect conditions, features, and events of potential scientific interest; A program that uses component-based computational models of hardware to analyze anomalous situations and to generate novel command sequences, including (when possible) commands to repair components diagnosed as faulty; A robust-execution-management component that uses the Spacecraft Command Language (SCL) software to enable event-driven processing and low-level autonomy; and The Continuous Activity Scheduling, Planning, Execution, and Replanning (CASPER) program for replanning activities, including downlink sessions, on the basis of scientific observations performed during previous orbit cycles.

Sherwood, Robert↗