In this paper, we discuss steps towards the development of an autonomy architecture, and concentrate on the autonomous flight control subsystem.

The StarLight Mission, an element of NASA's Origins Program, was designed for first-time demonstration of two technologies: formation flying optical interferometry between spacecraft and autonomous precise formation flying ...

The New Millennium Deep Space Mission 1 (DS1), a NASA designed advanced technology demeonstration mission to flyby an asteroid and a comet, is the first deep space solar electric propulsion spacecraft (S/C).

In this paper, we introduce a new fine-grain distributed information protection mechanism which can self-protect, self-discover, self-organize, and self-manage. In our approach, we decompose data into smaller pieces and ...

Future NASA missions include in-situ scientific explorations of small interplanetary objects like comets and asteroids.

Characteristic hardware concepts and performance targets are described for a potential robotic excavation system that can operate and robotically maintain itself without regular human intervention. In-Situ Resource Utilization ...

Ballons systems which operate under robotic contol, called aerobots, offer rich potential for exploration of the planets. Telerobotics technology allows an aerobot to control its vertical motion and exploit prevailing ...