Many scientific measurements require simultaneous multi-point sampling to distinguish between temporal and spatial phenomena. When multiple spacecraft are developed to address the multi-point sampling needs, these become distributed space systems. These systems provide capacity and redundancy in ways that gain significant benefits from autonomous technologies. This talk will explore how to assess when to make a distributed space system autonomous, some of those technologies that enable that transition, and present an example implementation of Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy on the Starling Mission.

Biography:

Nick Cramer Ph.D. is a member of NASA Ames Research Center's Intelligent Systems Division. Nick leads the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy project, developing and maturing multi-spacecraft autonomous decision-making technologies. Nick's research interests are distributed systems, uncrewed aerial vehicles, intelligent structures, and robotics.