Intelligent, Autonomous Spacecraft Operations Management System

MAESTRO (Management of manned spacecraft operations through intelligent, AdaptivE, autonomouS, faulT identification and diagnosis, Reconfiguration/replanning/rescheduling Optimization) substantially leverages previous NASA investments to assemble the correct set of technologies to implement all aspects of the intelligent, semi-autonomous spacecraft operations manager. We have significant experience in all of the required technologies and have already integrated them into a general MAESTRO architecture designed to be easily applied to all spacecraft subsystems. The eventual, ultimate goal is the ability of astronauts and a semi-autonomous, intelligent onboard system to easily manage all spacecraft operations through the development of MAESTRO, which can easily interface to the various systems of a variety of spacecraft. MAESTRO must be sufficiently powerful, general, and computationally efficient and be easily adapted by developers. This will be accomplished using open standards, clearly defined open interfaces, use of Open Source software, and leveraging several previous NASA investments. The Phase I research goals are to explore the various spacecraft subsystem domains, elaborate the AI techniques useful for subsystem characterization, diagnosis, and replanning/rescheduling/adaptive execution/safing, prove the feasibility of these techniques through prototype development, and develop a complete system specification for the Phase II MAESTRO system.

Because it will be an open system that other developers could use to create intelligent spacecraft operations management systems, many MAESTRO applications can be quickly developed. Since MAESTRO is specifically designed to easily interface with Diagnosis, Adaptive Execution, Planning, and Scheduling engines, developers will have their choice. There is a potential to move most spacecraft operations decision-making to onboard autonomous agents and/or the crew.

We already sell Aurora to private companies, with total sales over $13 million. MAESTRO improvements can be readily incorporated into Aurora and sold through existing sales channels, especially to the power generation industry, which we are already pursuing. There exist a large number of other applications that MAESTRO could be readily adapted to, such as oil refineries, factories, etc.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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.