The why and how of satellite autonomy

The need for a more autonomous support system for satellites when the conventional C/sup 2/ infrastructure is not available is discussed. The current level of autonomy is assessed, and the use of software techniques associated with artificial intelligence (AI) research to meet autonomy requirements is examined. Attention is given to such AI-based approaches as (1) model-based reasoning which uses causal models of the system and its environment to reason about situations, and (2) natural-language programming. >