Remote Agent

How are remote agents used?

Why was Remote Agent chosen to be tested on DS1?

DS1 is the first mission of NASA's New Millenium Program. The New Millenium Program calls for NASA to have a "virtual presence" in space. This involves many small, robotic, inexpensive spacecraft, like rovers, exploring all parts of our universe to gather information. To achieve this, NASA requested the development of a method for spacecraft to control themselves automatically. Researchers at NASA-Ames and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) rose to this challenge with the development of Remote Agent. Remote Agent was tested by a simulation called NewMaap, and based on its stellar performance, was chosen to be tested out in space on DS1.


What is a remote agent?
Is Remote Agent like the robots in science fiction movies?
How are satellites with no remote agent controlled?
What does agent mean?
How often does DS1 communicate with a ground station?
What is DS1's programmed mission?
How does NASA run space missions?

What is the NewMaap Simulation?
How did Remote Agent perform during the NewMaap simulation test?
Why don't we just send astronauts on deep space trips?
What kind of data is DS1 sending back?