Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Flight Autonomy Evolution
As new ideas surface for implementing advanced autonomous functions
onboard spacecraft, the extent to which spacecraft already possess au-
tonomous capability is often not fully appreciated. Many of these capabilities,
in fact, have been in place for so long that they have become absorbed within
the flight software (FSW) infrastructure, and as a result, typically are not
even considered when FSW autonomy is discussed.
Another aspect of flight autonomy not often formally recognized is that the
current state of flight autonomy is actually the product of an implicit process
driven by the users and developers of FSW. Each autonomous function in
place onboard NASA GSFC spacecraft has been developed either in response
to the needs of the users of spacecraft, both the science users and the flight
operations team (FOT), or in response to FSW development team insights
into how their product can be made more useful to its customers. Because
of the rightfully conservative nature of all three groups (scientists, FOT, and
FSW developers), the pace of autonomy introduction tends to be measured,
evolutionary, and targeted to very specific needs and objectives, rather than
sweeping and revolutionary.
Also, the budget process, which typically targets funds to the performance
of individual missions rather than allocating large research and development
(R&D) funds for the development of generic functionality for future missions,
tends to select against funding of major change and select for funding of in-
cremental change. As mission budgets have steadily shrunk, funds available
to mission project managers must be dedicated more to flight-proven auton-
omy functionality applicable to meeting immediate mission needs, as opposed
to being used for risky, breakthrough autonomy concepts that might greatly
reduce costs of both the current and other missions.
To provide a somewhat more balanced perspective on this issue, the evolv-
ing role of flight autonomy in spacecraft operations will be described within
the context of uncrewed space missions from the following perspectives:
