Maximizing Mission Science Return Through Use of Spacecraft Autonomy: Active Volcanism and the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment

摘要

Until now, deep-space missions were unable to react to dynamic events as observation sequences were planned in advance. In the case of planet, asteroid and comet fly-bys, the limited resources available are allocated to individual instruments long beforehand. However, for monitoring or mapping mission phases, alternative strategies and technologies are now available. Now, onboard data processing allows greater spacecraft and instrument flexibility, affording the ability to react rapidly to dynamic events, and increasing the science content of returned data. Such new technology has already been successfully demonstrated in the form of the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE).