Titan MESSENGER Autonomy Experiment

1
Titan MESSENGER Autonomy Experiment
2
Rationale

• ST7 Experience Has Shown That Dedicated Autonomy
  Experiments are not Cost Effective. The
  Technology Must Be Introduced into an Existing
  Mission Framework.
• but
• Various Studies Have Concluded that Autonomy
  Capabilities and Requirements Must Be Considered
  At System Design Time To Achieve Significant
  Cost/Capability Impact.
• The MESSENGER Mission Provides a Unique
  Opportunity to Achieve Cost-Effective Operational
  Autonomy by 2010.
• Deep Space Environment
• Capable On-board Processing Baseline.
• On-board Fuel Resources for Extended Orbital Ops
  (Currently Unplanned)
• Development Can Parallel multi-year Cruise Phase
• PI Support for Autonomous Science Platform
  Concept

3
Reference Mission

• MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry
  and Ranging (MESSENGER) Mission.
• April 2004 Launch
• June 2006 Orbit Insertion
• Four RAD6000 Processors Onboard (25 MHz Clock,
  24MB SRAM)
• Dedicated Fault Protection Processor Architecture
• Legacy Onboard Autonomy Engine

4
MESSENGER Mission Timelines
Development
2001
2002
2003
2004
PDR
CDR
Start IT
Pre Ship Review
Launch
DFS/ECS MiniME
Potential Autonomous Mercury Ops Phase
Operations
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Launch
Venus Flyby 2
Mercury Flyby 1
Mercury Flyby 2
Mercury Orbit Insertion
End Scheduled Mercury Ops
End Extended Mercury Ops
Venus Flyby 1
5
Objectives

• Conclusively Demonstrate Direct NASA Relevance of
  Model-based Programming and Execution Frameworks
  in Science-driven Mission Scenario.
• Verifiable Autonomous Behavior
• Reactive Time Scales
• Establish Essential Connection Between Autonomy
  Technology Developers and Mission Systems and
  Software Engineering.
• Bridge Current Practices into New Technology
  Frameworks.
• Rule-based Systems into Model-based Systems

6
Architecture Comparison
Baseline
Rule List
Autonomy Rule Engine
Telemetry
Safe-hold Earth Acq
Commands
Command Sequence
Mission Planning (ground)
Command Processing
Commands
Clock
Model-based
Model-based Executive
Activity Selection
Plant Model
Execution Model
Mission Planning
State Estimates
Telemetry
Deductive Controller
Control Sequencer
Clock
Commands
Configuration Goals
Safe-hold Earth Acq
7
Autonomy Rules in Current Application
Example from MESSENGER Safing and Fault
Protection Requirements Specification. (Flight
Software Design to Support 1280 Rules)
8
General Plan

• Initial Science Concept Study and Technology
  Development
• Development of Ground Operations Decision Support
  Tool
• Realistic Scale Model Development
• Shadow Mode Performance Assessment
• Operator Interface
• Flight Architecture Build Update Bench Test
• Operator Training
• Spacecraft Reconfiguration and Checkout
• Autonomous Planetary Operations in Extended
  Mission Phase

9
Master Schedule
10
Mission Operations Automation Framework
Science Goals
S/C Maintenance Requirements
State Recovery Goals
Maintenance Activity Generation
Science Activity Generation
Activity Merging
Sequence Generation
Planning Scheduling
Sequence Validation Expectation Generation
S/C State Model
Command Uplink
S/C
Epoch 2000
Near Term Focus
Telemetry Downlink
Performance Assessment
Contact Automation
Real-time Mission Ops
Anomaly
State Update
State Recovery
Contingency Operations