Speaker
Description
Future space systems will heavily rely on autonomous Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) functions to efficiently manage safe and precise self-directed operations in uncertain complex environments. Fundamentally, the GNC system plays a key role in mission performance and safety. Our current GNC systems are already highly automated and complex. The trend is for missions to become more ambitious and more diverse, thus the expectation is that the GNC systems for launch vehicles and space platforms will require even higher levels of performance and autonomous operation than previously encountered. Many future missions will have demanding new requirements for onboard autonomy, resiliency, reconfigurability, performance optimization, adaptation, and fault-tolerant operations. An Inter-Agency GNC V&V Working Group* has been investigating the advanced technologies, approaches, methodologies, tools, and processes that will be needed to efficiently perform the necessary V&V to ensure reliable and safe flight GNC system operation. Efficiency is critically important as it is well known that V&V is a cost driver in GNC system development process. In this ADCSS talk the findings and recommendations of the Inter-Agency GNC V&V Working Group will be summarized. The recent development of relevant benchmark problems will also be discussed. The benchmark problems are seen as a means to help bridge the gap between research organizations and industry counterparts, especially in the area of developing the new GNC V&V technologies. Lastly, the plans for a GNC V&V Workshop in July 2025 will be highlighted for the community. The purpose of this Workshop will be to identify and discuss the challenges and solutions for the new types of GNC V&V technologies, approaches, methodologies, tools, and processes needed to address the next generation of GNC systems for demanding aerospace mission applications. As will be discussed the primary Workshop objectives will be to raise awareness about GNC V&V challenges/issues within our community and to provide a forum for collaborative information sharing/learning on the topic of GNC V&V for future systems.
