The ST6 autonomous sciencecraft experiment

The autonomous sciencecraft experiment (ASE), part of the new millennium space technology 6 project, is flying onboard the Earth Orbiter 1 (EO-1) mission. The ASE software enables EO-1 to autonomously detect and respond to science events such as: volcanic activity, flooding, and water freeze/thaw. ASE uses classification algorithms to analyze imagery onboard to detect change and science events. Detection of these events is then used to trigger follow-up imagery. Onboard mission planning software then develops a response plan that accounts for target visibility and operations constraints. This plan is then executed using a task execution system that can deal with run-time anomalies. In this paper, we describe the autonomy flight software and how it enables a new paradigm of autonomous science and mission operations. We also describe our approach to testing and validation the ASE software, how we prepared the ASE software for space flight, and the current experiment status and future plans.