2020 Problem Statements: Trusted Autonomy

Space enterprise lags behind terrestrial and aerial robot development, in both hardware and software. Space qualified hardware is expensive and explains the lag there but software development is constrained by the lack of high speed space processors and general community trust of autonomous operations.

The national space community recognizes the need for highly autonomous, on-orbit operational spacecraft capable of an increasing number of complex tasks, but at the same time asks, how can we be certain that the platforms & algorithms being utilized for space operations can be relied upon? How can we trust autonomy?