Generative AI Rescheduling Assistant for Autonomous Deconfliction of Crew-Spacecraft Timelines

This proposal addresses this challenge through a ground test campaign designed to evaluate the sensitivity of flight-state reconstruction to measured inputs and instrumentation configurations across a dynamic mid-flight event. The campaign will consist of dropping 8-12 instrumented entry capsules from approximately 60 m, each employing different sensor suites and data acquisition architectures. Reconstructed trajectories will be compared against ground-truth observations, with emphasis on reconstruction performance through the ejection event. The Stratospheric Projectile Experiment of Entry Dynamics (SPEED) platform, a novel test architecture under development at NASA Ames, provides the experimental framework for this investigation. Leveraging a gantry-based SPEED drop test, the proposed campaign will inform refinement of measurement integration strategies, avionics configurations, and data processing approaches, supporting future free-flight dynamic stability testing.

Playbook is a NASA Ames flagship software, built by the investment of multiple missions and research projects. While Playbook is used in NASA analogs (like CHAPEA) and spaceflight robotic missions (like CLPS & Mars2020), it has not been selected for initial Artemis missions because Playbook has not had the opportunity to demonstrate greater efficiencies over existing platforms. Evidence for improved efficiencies at low cost (using existing, available AI tools) is an essential acceptance component for future Artemis and Mars missions. This small investment by Ames would allow our team to make a stronger proposal for Playbook as the next generation planning and scheduling platform for M2M.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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