Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA)

Autonomous decision-making significantly increases mission effectiveness by mitigating the effects of communication constraints, like latency and bandwidth, and mission complexity on multi-spacecraft operations. To advance the state of the art in autonomous Distributed Space Systems (DSS), the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) team at NASA's Ames Research Center is developing within five relevant technical areas: distributed resource and task management, reactive operations, system modeling and simulation, human-swarm interaction, and ad hoc network communications. DSA is maturing these technologies - critical for future large autonomous DSS - from concept to launch via simulation studies and orbital deployments. A 100-node heterogenous Processor-in-the-Loop (PiL) testbed aids distributed autonomy capability development and verification of multi-spacecraft missions. DSA's primary flight mission showcases collaborative resource allocation for multipoint science data collection with four small spacecraft as a payload on NASA's Starling 1.0 satellites. Autonomous decision making will be needed for deep-space multi-spacecraft missions due to latency, bandwidth constraints, and mission complexity. Additionally, autonomy can significantly increase the effectiveness of multi-spacecraft (e.g. swarm) missions by operating them as a collective rather than individually. The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) project will:Develop Distributed Autonomy Software to control a swarm of spacecraft. The core capabilities of command and control of a swarm need to be developed to allow for swarm command, control, and insight.Conduct a Technology Demonstration in Flight. The developed swarm software will need to be tested in a flight environment to develop trust and demonstrate capabilities.Conduct a Simulation Demonstrating the Swarm Software Scalability. The flight technology will be limited to four spacecraft. To demonstrate the scalability and flexibility of the DSA software a technology demonstration in a simulation environment will be performed.

Autonomous decision making will be needed for deep-space multi-spacecraft missions due to latency, bandwidth constraints, and mission complexity. Additionally, autonomy can significantly increase the effectiveness of multi-spacecraft missions by operating them as a collective rather than individually. To address the needs of future missions, the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy project (DSA) will: 1) Advance command and control methodologies for controlling a swarm of spacecraft as a single entity with the final release of the NASA DSA software architecture, including design documentation. 2) Develop, mature, and demonstrate autonomous coordination between multiple spacecraft in the swarm via a final report documenting and analyzing the performance of the DSA-Starling on-orbit spacecraft autonomy demonstrations. 3) Develop, mature, and demonstrate approaches for adaptive reconfiguration and distributed decision-making across a swarm of spacecraft. 4) Test, Experiment, and Verfiy the scalability of Distributed Space Systems on orbit and on the ground via simulations and orbital deployment. Thus advancingdistributed autonomy capability development and verification of multi-spacecraft missions.

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.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.