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and x-ray, gamma-ray, visible/infrared, or neutral mass spectrometers. Each
worker would gather only its assigned data types. Some of the spacecraft
would be coordinators (called leaders or rulers) that would coordinate the
efforts of the workers. They would apply rules to determine the types of as-
teroids and data of interest to the mission. The third type of spacecraft are
called messengers. Messengers would coordinate communications among the
workers, rulers, and mission control on earth.
Figure
10.5
depicts the flow of activity as teams explore an asteroid, ex-
change data, and return data to earth. A single ANTS spacecraft could also
survey an asteroid in a flyby, sending quick-look data to the ruler, which
would then decide whether the asteroid warranted further investigation using
a team. The ruler would choose team members according to the instruments
they carry.
Many operational scenarios are possible within the overall concept of mis-
sions that act like a natural swarm culture. In one scenario, the swarm would
form subswarms under the control of a ruler, which would contain models
of the types of science that it wants to perform. The ruler would coordinate
workers, each of which would use its individual instrument to collect data on
specific asteroids and feed this information back to the ruler, which would
determine which asteroids are worth examining further. If after consulting
its selection criteria and using heuristic reasoning it determines that the as-
teroid merits further investigation, an imaging spacecraft would be sent to
the asteroid to ascertain its shape and size and to create a rough model to
be used by other spacecraft for maneuvering around the asteroid. The ruler
would also arrange for additional workers to transit to the asteroid with an
expanded repertoire of instruments to gather more complete information. In
effect, the spacecraft would form a team. The leader would be the spacecraft
that contains models of the types of experiments or measurements the team
needs to perform. The leader would relay parts of this model to the team
workers, which then would take measurements of asteroids using whatever
type of instrument they have until something matched the goal the leader
sent. The workers would gather the required information and send it to the
team leader, which would integrate it and return it to the ruler that formed
the team. The ruler might then integrate this new information with informa-
tion from previous asteroid explorations and use a messenger to relay findings
back to earth.
10.2.3 Other Space Swarm-Based Concepts
An autonomous space exploration system studied at Virginia Tech, funded by
the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), consists of a swarm of
low altitude, buoyancy-driven gliders for terrain exploration and sampling, a
buoyant oscillating wing that absorbs wind energy, and a docking station that
could be used to anchor the energy absorber, charge the gliders, and serve as
a communications relay [
96
]. The work was built on success with underwater
