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))
(send—acs—change—control—mode
:acs—tvc—mode))))
((ips_in_thrusting_state_p ips)
(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