Multi-Tier Exploration: An Architecture for Dramatically Increasing Mission ROI

It is highly desirable to increase the science-return, as a function of cost, of planetary science missions. While innovative hardware miniaturization techniques are poised to reduce mass and volume requirements (and thus launch costs), this is not a complete solution. A new control paradigm is presented, which seeks to maximize mission science- return via eliminating wasted control delays and allowing concurrent performance of mission objectives by multiple craft. Unlike approaches which have relied on extensive teleoperation or controller-supplied low-level tasking, the proposed approach is based on planetary craft having significant autonomy. This local decision-making seeks to maximize performance of the high-level objectives supplied by controllers. 2,3 , is poised to provide a dramatic increase in science benefit as a function of cost. The Multi-Tier Autonomous Mission Architecture (MAMA) approach provides this substantial benefit by increasing craft utilization through autonomy, deferring most investigation decisions to be made on-planet, and committing resources to a possible target site iteratively. The Multi-Tier Autonomous Mission Architecture proposes a level of autonomy never before demonstrated in a space mission. Under this approach, high-level mission objectives and a general target are provided to onboard mission management software. This software determines, based on initial sensing, what areas have the highest relevance to attaining the specified goals (e.g., finding evidence of a given phenomena). Aerial and, subsequently, ground craft are launched into this region to perform more detailed investigation. Each progressive tier of commitment is made only if analysis of progressively more detailed data continues to support the area being the preferred candidate for mission goal attainment. This highly autonomous approach virtually eliminates time wasted waiting for controller instructions and maximizes the value of the communications link by transmitting predominately data (as opposed to pictures for operator situational awareness, and similar) back to Earth. A description of the Multi-Tier Autonomous Mission Architecture and its technical implementation are presented herein. Three mission plans based on the MAMA architecture, a Mars mission, a near Earth object mission and an Earth-science test/demonstration mission, are also presented. The performance of the Multi-Tier Autonomous Mission Architecture, as compared to traditional mission approaches, can be considered in the context of these prospective missions.