Mission Operations and Autonomy

Gao, Yang; Burroughes, Guy; Ocón, Jorge; Fratini, Simone; Policella, Nicola; Donati, Alessandro

doi:10.1002/9783527684977.ch6

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 66 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…These parameters can derive from a database of components, previous studies, or a scale-up of existing systems. There is extensive literature on the rapid sizing of physical hardware for robotic space systems, as in [28,37,38]. This resource consumption can change or be refined during the different design phases.…”

Section: Mbse and The Parametric Functional Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AI planning is the branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on defining an action sequence for an agent to reach a specified goal. Space operations' software uses planning and scheduling algorithms to achieve a high level of autonomy for both goal-oriented autonomy onboard a spacecraft and planning activities in the ground segment [28]. Most of the work employing AI planning focused on enabling long-term autonomous operations, such as in [7,[28][29][30][31].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Space operations' software uses planning and scheduling algorithms to achieve a high level of autonomy for both goal-oriented autonomy onboard a spacecraft and planning activities in the ground segment [28]. Most of the work employing AI planning focused on enabling long-term autonomous operations, such as in [7,[28][29][30][31]. Some of those algorithms and frameworks were concretized in the Deep Space 1 mission [10,32] and in the Earth Observing 1 mission [33].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulating Operational Concepts for Autonomous Robotic Space Exploration Systems: A Framework for Early Design Validation

2023

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During mission design, the concept of operations (ConOps) describes how the system operates during various life cycle phases to meet stakeholder expectations. ConOps is sometimes declined in a simple evaluation of the power consumption or data generation per mode. Different operational timelines are typically developed based on expert knowledge. This approach is robust when designing an automated system or a system with a low level of autonomy. However, when studying highly autonomous systems, designers may be interested in understanding how the system would react in an operational scenario when provided with knowledge about its actions and operational environment. These considerations can help verify and validate the proposed ConOps architecture, highlight shortcomings in both physical and functional design, and help better formulate detailed requirements. Hence, this study aims to provide a framework for the simulation and validation of operational scenarios for autonomous robotic space exploration systems during the preliminary design phases. This study extends current efforts in autonomy technology for planetary systems by focusing on testing their operability and assessing their performances in different scenarios early in the design process. The framework uses Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) as the knowledge base for the studied system and its operations. It then leverages a Markov Decision Process (MDP) to simulate a set of system operations in a relevant scenario. It then outputs a feasible plan with the associated variation of a set of considered resources as step functions. This method was applied to simulate the operations of a small rover exploring an unknown environment to observe and sample a set of targets.

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Section: Mbse and The Parametric Functional Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulating Operational Concepts for Autonomous Robotic Space Exploration Systems: A Framework for Early Design Validation

2023

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“…Autonomy impacts the overall operability of the system and how the human operators interact with it, as detailed in Ref. [1]. At the same time, the mobility subsystem characteristics define the amount of space the system can cover and its capacity to avoid or overcome obstacles [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Conceptual Design and Parametric Control Assessment for a Hybrid Mobility Lunar Hopper

Rimani

Bucchioni²,

Ryals³

et al. 2023

Aerospace

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The lunar lava tubes are envisioned as possible hosting structures for a human base in the Moon’s equatorial regions, providing shelter from radiations, micrometeoroids, and temperature excursion. A first robotic mission is set to scout the habitability of these underground architectures in the near future. The communication inside these underground tunnels is heavily constrained; hence, the scouting system should rely on a high degree of autonomy. At the same time, the exploration system may encounter different types of terrain, requiring an adaptable mobility subsystem able to travel fast on basaltic terrain while avoiding considerable obstacles. This paper presents a cave explorer’s mission study and preliminary sizing targeting the lunar lava tubes. The study proposes using a hybrid mobility system with wheels and thrusters to navigate smoothly inside the lava tubes. The peculiar mobility system of the cave explorer requires an accurate study of the adaptability of its control capabilities with the change of mass for a given set of sensors and actuators. The combination of conceptual design techniques and control assessment gives the engineer a clear indication of the feasible design box for the studied system during the initial formulation phases of a mission. This first part of the study focuses on framing the stakeholders’ needs and identifying the required capabilities of the cave explorer. Furthermore, the study focuses on assessing a design box in terms of mass and power consumption for the cave explorer. Following different mission-level assessments, a more detailed design of the cave explorer is discussed, providing an initial design in terms of mass and power consumption. Finally, the objective shifts toward studying the performances of the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms varying the mass of the cave explorer. The GNC significantly impacts the design box of the surface planetary system. Hence, investigating its limitations can indicate the feasibility of mass growth to accommodate, for example, more payload.

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“…Autonomy is the ability of an agent to accomplish goals through rational decision making based on its knowledge and understanding of the world, itself, and the situation [110]. The need for onboard autonomous behavior in spacecraft is strongly influenced by communication latency between spacecraft and ground stations; even with continuous view of ground stations, satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) are subject to a communication latency of 240 ms while satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) can go several hours without contact to ground stations.…”

Section: Onboard Autonomy and Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Robotics and AI-Enabled On-Orbit Operations With Future Generation of Small Satellites

et al. 2018

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Mission Operations and Autonomy

Cited by 4 publications

References 66 publications

Simulating Operational Concepts for Autonomous Robotic Space Exploration Systems: A Framework for Early Design Validation

Simulating Operational Concepts for Autonomous Robotic Space Exploration Systems: A Framework for Early Design Validation

Integrated Conceptual Design and Parametric Control Assessment for a Hybrid Mobility Lunar Hopper

Robotics and AI-Enabled On-Orbit Operations With Future Generation of Small Satellites

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