HAMMER: Highly Autonomous Mission Manager for Event Response

HAMMER offers an integrated architecture for autonomously managing satellite missions.

Satellite intelligence information is being used increasingly for real-time operations. This requires satellites that can quickly be tasked for new objectives and that can respond to opportunistic situations. Unfortunately, today’s satellites rely on ground operators to control them. This means there is a large delay between when a new task is requested or a new threat identified and the response by the satellite. The usefulness of satellites and satellite information would be increased if the satellites could respond quickly and effectively with limited ground operator interaction. In addition, because satellites are increasingly important to modern warfare they also face increasing threats from anti-satellite weapons (ASATs). Thus, they need a means to effectively and autonomously respond to these threats.

HAMMER offers an integrated architecture for autonomously managing satellite missions, combining. It combines state-of-the-art planning with open source NASA execution technology and NASA-developed event detection and assessment software. These are integrated to create a responsive, autonomous mission manager for space systems. Three components are at the heart of our proposed architecture called Highly Autonomous Mission Manager for Event Response (HAMMER). First, automated planning technology produces, maintains and monitors a long-range plan of satellite activities to accomplish high-level mission goals. Second, task sequence execution technology takes the mission plan and uses flight software to execute it reactively. Third, event detection and assessment software abstracts low-level sensor and telemetry data into symbolic information that is maintained for use by the planner and executive.