Spacecraft Operations

Orbital Effects of a Time-Dependent Pioneer-Like Anomalous Acceleration

by Lorenzo Iorio

L. Iorio, Orbital Effects of a Time-Dependent Pioneer-Like Anomalous Acceleration, Modern Physics Letters A, vol. 27, no. 12, id. 1250071, 2012

We work out the impact that the recently determined time-dependent component of the
Pioneer Anomaly (PA), if... more We work out the impact that the recently determined time-dependent component of the
Pioneer Anomaly (PA), if interpreted as an additional exotic acceleration of gravitational
origin with respect to the well-known PA-like constant one, may have on the orbital
motions of some planets of the solar system. By assuming that it points towards the
Sun, it turns out that both the semi-major axis a and the eccentricity e of the orbit of
a test particle would experience secular variations. For Saturn and Uranus, for which
modern data records cover at least one full orbital revolution, such predicted anomalies
are up to 2–3 orders of magnitude larger than the present-day accuracies in empirical
determinations of their orbital parameters from the usual orbit determination procedures
in which the PA was not modeled. Given the predicted huge sizes of such hypothetical
signatures, it is unlikely that their absence from the presently available processed data
can be attributable to an “absorption” for them in the estimated parameters caused by
the fact that they were not explicitly modeled. The magnitude of a constant PA-type
acceleration at 9.5 au cannot be larger than 9 × 10−15 m s−2 according to the latest
observational results for the perihelion precession of Saturn.

The Integration of Spacecraft into the National Airspace System

by Andrew Duncan

The recent development of the commercialized human spaceflight industry has sparked a great interest in the... more The recent development of the commercialized human spaceflight industry has sparked a great interest in the utilization of spacecraft for suborbital transportation as well as the growing space tourism industry. The Federal Aviation Administration has recognized the developments that have occurred in this industry and has begun looking towards developing new technology and procedures for the integration of commercial spacecraft into the national airspace system. As the frequency of spaceflight operations and the number of new spaceports continue to increase, the necessity for a system which enables aircraft and spacecraft to operate in the same airspace will become evident. This paper will identify some of the challenges of spacecraft integration into the national airspace system as well as attempt to provide viable solutions for the smooth transition to a more space-friendly airspace system.

Automated Consultation for the Diagnosis for Interplanetary Telecommunications

by David Atkinson

A.G. Quan, U.M. Schwuttke, J.S. Herstein and D.J. Atkinson, "Automated Consultation for the Diagnosis for Interplanetary Telecommunications", Proceedings of Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Seattle, Washington, USA, July, 1994.

SHARP (Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Program) is a knowledge-based consultant for diagnosing problems in... more SHARP (Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Program) is a knowledge-based consultant for diagnosing problems in NASA'a Deep Space Network (DSN) telecommunications link in near real-time...This paper describes the most recent version, which is an operational system used by spacecraft mission controllers; previous versions are described elsewhere...

Artificial Intelligence for Monitoring and Diagnosis of Robotic Spacecraft

by David Atkinson

http://www.dissertations.se/dissertation/6532c1b994/

Atkinson, David J. Artificial Intelligence for Monitoring and Diagnosis of Robotic Spacecraft. Dissertation. Chalmers U of Technology, Technical Report No. 237, (1992)

In this thesis the application of artificial intelligence to monitoring and diagnosis of robotic spacecraft is... more In this thesis the application of artificial intelligence to monitoring and diagnosis of robotic spacecraft is discussed. Several software prototype systems were developed to serve as testbeds for the research and to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach against real problems and current techniques used in NASA's planetary exploration program.

Software prototypes were used to investigate the verification of robot plan execution. New artificial intelligence algorithms for monitoring and diagnosis of robot systems were designed, programmed, and tested. These included plan analysis for monitoring, sensor planning, generation of expected sensor values, and diagnosis of execution failures caused by hardware, environmental or plan anomalies. Testing was performed on a laboratory telerobotic hardware testbed for satellite servicing and on a mobile planetary rover robot operating in natural terrain.

Artificial intelligence algorithms, software prototypes, and more advanced, operationally capable systems for monitoring ground support systems and actual spacecraft in flight were designed, programmed, and tested. A ground support system that served as one test domain was the mirror cooling circuit of the 25-foot Space Simulator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. A prototype monitoring system for this device based on a theory of "predictive monitoring" was developed and tested. Mission operations for the Voyager II spacecraft served as another test domain for an intelligent spacecraft health-monitoring and diagnosis system. This system was successfully tested in support of telecommunications operations during Voyager II's encounter with the planet Neptune in 1989. This was the one of the first artificial intelligence systems to be used in planetary spacecraft operations at NASA/JPL. Subsequently, this system was adapted and tested in support of operations of the Magellan spacecraft telecommunications subsystem and the Galileo spacecraft power and pyro subsystem.

Some of the specific artificial intelligence algorithms that were developed for monitoring and diagnosis included the use of heuristic and causal model-based reasoning techniques for predictive generation of sensor values, sensor selection planning, dynamic alarm limit checking, hierarchical procedure specialists for fault diagnosis, and integration of Al with conventional systems in full-scale monitoring and diagnosis applications.

In support of this overall program of research, novel software engineering tools for artificial intelligence research and application development were also developed and will be discussed in the thesis.

The application of artificial intelligence techniques to the monitoring and diagnosis of robotic space systems was shown to be very effective with specific benefits in the areas of systems autonomy, spacecraft safety, ground operations productivity and automation. As a result of this work in part, artificial intelligence is now considered by senior mission designers to be an enabling technology for on-board automation of planetary rovers and for automation in mission operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Applications of artificial intelligence for spacecraft autonomy and enhanced science data return

by David Atkinson

Atkinson, David J., Steve Chien, and Eric Mjolsness. "Applications of Artificial Intelligence for Spacecraft Autonomy and Enhanced Science Data Return." AIAA Space 2000 Conference & Exposition (2000).

Knowledge-Based Diagnosis for Aerospace Systems

by David Atkinson

Atkinson, David J. NASA. Knowledge-Based Diagnosis for Aerospace Systems. Pasadena: NASA JPL Publication 88-7, 1987.

A later version appears in:

Atkinson, David J. "Knowledge Based Diagnosis". Appearing in Progress in Machine Intelligence. Ed. Ewald Heer.: AIAA Progress Series, (1988).

This report discusses autonomous diagnosis of aerospace systems. The need for automated diagnosis in aerospace and the... more This report discusses autonomous diagnosis of aerospace systems. The need for automated diagnosis in aerospace and the approach of using knowledge-based systems are examined. Researchissues in knowledge- based diagnosis which are important for aerospace applications are treated along with a review of recent relevant research developments in Artificial Intelligence.The design and operation of some existing knowledge-based diagnosis systems are described. The systems described and compared include the LES expert system for liquid oxygen loading at NASA Kennedy Space Center, the FAITH diagnosis system developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the PES procedural expert system developed at SRI International, the CSRL approach developed at Ohio State University, the StarPlan system developed by Ford Aerospace, the IDM integrated diagnostic model, and the DRAPhys diagnostic system developed at NASA Langley Research Center.

Autonomy Technology Challenges of Europa and Titan Exploration Missions

by David Atkinson

Title: Autonomy Technology Challenges of Europa and Titan Exploration Missions
Authors: Atkinson, J. D.
Journal: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space, Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium, ISAIRAS '99, held 1-3 June, 1999 in ESTEC, Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Edited by M. Perry. ESA SP-440. Paris: European Space Agency, 1999., p.175
Bibliographic Code: 1999ESASP.440..175A

Technologies for complex systems automation and autonomy in deep space exploration

by David Atkinson

Atkinson, D. J.; Castano, R.; Chien, S. and Fijany, A. "Technologies for complex systems automation and autonomy in deep space exploration". Appears in National Manufacturing Technology Transfer Conference and Exposition Chicago, IL, USA 3-Mar-2003

Autonomy technology at JPL

by David Atkinson

Atkinson, David J., and Ben Smith. "Autonomy Technology at JPL." Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS ’01) (2001)

This paper and exhibit describes the on-going research activities, plans and products of the Autonomy Technology... more This paper and exhibit describes the on-going research activities, plans and products of the Autonomy Technology program at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In this paper, we briefly describe the areas of Mission Planning and Execution, Distributed Autonomous Systems, Science Data Understanding, and Autonomous Guidance and Control.

Recent JPL results supporting automation of ground and flight systems

by David Atkinson

Atkinson, David J. "Recent JPL Results Supporting Automation of Ground and Flight Systems." Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS ’03) (2003).