Thriving in the Irregular and the Unknown: System Control for Space Exploration
Michael Lee Rilee, S. A. Curtis, John E. Dorband, Cynthia Cheung, David John Lary, Hamse Y. Mussa · 2005
Crucial to the development of a system of systems infrastructure for space exploration is a truly scalable control architecture. This architecture must be built on the reliable, adaptable operation and co-operation of autonomous systems at multiple levels. Advances in hardware and software computing technology allow us to consider anew the range of control systems from reactive, lowlevel to deliberate, heuristic systems. At NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), we have been developing the means to create space and surface systems that are active participants in their environment rather than being merely visitors that withstand space’s hazards as our extended remotely controlled tools. Central to this work has been the development of the Autonomous Nano-Technology Swarm (ANTS) mission architecture and the Neural Basis Function Synthetic Neural System (NBF/SNS) which are included among the subjects of several GSFC provisional patent applications. These are scalable systems with non-linear dynamics built in to deal with irregularity, uncertainty, and unpredictability in their environments. These system architectures outline pathways from existing near-term capabilities to far-term enabling technologies.