What is NASA's Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy?

Astronauts living and working on the Moon and Mars will rely on satellites to provide services like navigation, weather, and communications relays. While managing complex missions, automating satellite communications will allow explorers to focus on critical tasks instead of manually operating satellites.

Long duration space missions will require teaming between systems on Earth and other planets. Satellites orbiting the Moon, Mars, or other distant areas face communications delays with ground operators which could limit the efficiency of their missions.

The solution lies within the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) project, led by NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, which tests how shared autonomy across distributed spacecraft missions makes spacecraft swarms