NASA's Deep Space 1 mission demonstrated new technologies in space, including an ion propulsion engine and the Remote Agent, an autonomous AI system for spacecraft command and control. The Remote Agent used a planner to create schedules, an inference system to understand spacecraft state, and an executive to flexibly execute plans and replan if needed. It successfully controlled Deep Space 1 for 3 days, validating its ability to autonomously plan, diagnose issues, and replan missions. This demonstrated that AI can control complex spacecraft, opening possibilities for new types of space missions with more autonomy.

1. AI in Space – Lessons From
NASA’s Deep Space 1
Mission
Ron Keesing
Dept. Of Maths & Computing Science
University of the South Pacific

2. Overview
• NASA’s Deep Space 1 Mission
• A brief introduction to AI
• Why use AI in space?
• The Remote Agent
• Future Directions

3. NASA’s Deep Space 1

4. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Technology
• First mission of NASA’s New Millenium
Program.
• Primary mission goal was to demonstrate
new technologies.

5. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Innovation
First demonstration of
• Ion Propulsion System Engine
• AI system for spacecraft command and
control (Remote Agent)
• 10 other technologies

6. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Ion Propulsion System Engine

7. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Exploration
• Launched in October, 1998
• Successful flybys of
– Asteroid Braille (26 Kms)
• Closest asteroid approach to date
– Comet Borrelly
• Best data ever collected from comet

8. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Exploration – Launch

9. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Exploration – Artist’s conception

10. NASA’s Deep Space 1
Exploration - Encounter with Comet Borrelly

11. A Brief Introduction to AI
• What is artificial intelligence?
– Creating machines that behave “intelligently”.
• How would you know an “intelligent”
machine if you saw one?
– The Turing Test

12. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Early predictions (1950s) were very
optimistic.
• Computers would soon:
– Win World Chess Championship.
– Understand spoken language.
– Be as “smart” as people.

13. A Brief Introduction to AI
• HAL-9000 from “2001 – A Space Odyssey”

14. A Brief Introduction to AI
• HAL-9000 from “2001 – A Space Odyssey”

15. A Brief Introduction to AI
• HAL-9000 from “2001 – A Space Odyssey”

16. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Creating “intelligent” computers has
proven far more difficult than imagined.
– 50 years to beat world chess champion.
– Not close to understanding language.
– No one even thinks about a computer
passing the Turing Test anymore…

17. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Human beings are much smarter than we
gave ourselves credit for.
– Solving differential equations is easy.
Catching a ball is hard.
– Storing lots of information is easy.
Understanding it is hard.

18. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Even though AI is hard, we’ve developed a
lot of ways to make machines “smarter”.
– Planning
– Automated Reasoning
– Agents

19. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Planning
– Decomposing high-level goals into individual
tasks that can achieve these goals efficiently
• Robots that can manipulate objects.
• Systems for optimizing manufacturing processes.

20. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Automated Reasoning
– Making inferences from limited information
based on knowledge of the domain.
• Medical diagnosis
• Theorem proving

21. A Brief Introduction to AI
• Agents
– Systems that can perform complex tasks
autonomously.
• Web search agents that can navigate the web
looking for specific pieces of information.

22. Why Use AI In Space?
• Conventional model of spacecraft control
– Ground control sends a plan.
– Spacecraft executes that plan.
– If anything goes wrong, spacecraft enters
“safe mode” and calls ground control.

23. Why Use AI In Space?
• Problems with “ground control” approach:
– Expensive
– May miss opportunities.
– Sometimes it’s more dangerous to wait for
help.
– Some missions can’t be run from ground.

24. The Remote Agent
• An autonomous system for spacecraft
command and control
• 3 components
– Planner
– Inference system (MIR)
– “Smart Executive”

25. The Remote Agent
• Planner
– Takes mission goals from ground control
and creates a plan to satisfy them
• Plans for limited resources (power).
• Plans satisfy numerous constraints (orientation,
communication, state of devices).

26. The Remote Agent
• Planner
OpNav
IPS Thrust
ACS Turns
MICAS Power
MICAS Imaging
Nav OD
Planning

27. The Remote Agent
• Inference system (MIR)
– Gets information from sensors.
– Deduces state of spacecraft using model-
based reasoning.
– Suggests ways to reconfigure if devices fail.

28. The Remote Agent
• Inference system (MIR)

29. The Remote Agent
• “Smart Executive”
– Sends commands to spacecraft to execute
the plan.
– Executes the plan flexibly, including trying
multiple methods if necessary.
– Recognizes when a plan has failed and
triggers replanning.

30. The Remote Agent
• “Smart Executive”
(to_achieve (IPS_THRUSTING ips level)
((ips_is_in_standby_state_p ips)
(sequence (achieve (power_on? 'ega—a))
(command_with_confirmation
(send—ips—set—thrust—level level))
(command_with_confirmation
(send—acs—change—control—mode
:acs—tvc—mode))))
((ips_in_thrusting_state_p ips)
(command_with_confirmation
(send—ips—change—thrust—level level)))
(t (fail :ips_achieve_thrusting)))

31. The Remote Agent Experiment
• The Remote Agent took control of DS-1
for 3 days.
– Validated all objectives
• Demonstrated ability to formulate plans to satisfy
mission goals.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose faults and
reconfigure to perform tasks.
• Demonstrated plan failure, recovery, and
replanning.

32. The Remote Agent Experiment
• Lessons from using AI on DS-1.
– An autonomous system can successfully
control a complex spacecraft.
• Opens the door to new types of missions and a
new relationship between ground and spacecraft.
– The RA architecture is a powerful approach
to building robust autonomous systems

33. Future Directions For AI In Space
• Autonomous rovers
• Manned mission to Mars
• Formation flying
• Many-agent approaches