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Photo of Johns Hopkins APL’s Camera Reveals Surprise for NASA’s Lucy Mission in First Asteroid Encounter
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Johns Hopkins APL’s Camera Reveals Surprise for NASA’s Lucy Mission in First Asteroid Encounter

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Spacecraft Autonomy

Intelligent Space Systems: Always on Target

Spacecraft autonomy is a multidisciplinary effort to build systems that keep spacecraft “on target” under a range of diverse operational conditions.

Spacecraft that operate millions or even billions of miles from home -- where radio signals from Earth can take hours to reach them -- must be programmed to check for and correct problems until operators can help. Most APL missions are enabled by complex autonomy systems that protect our spacecraft when human intervention is neither feasible nor timely. APL autonomy engineers work with other spacecraft system teams to identify failure modes, negotiate status of spacecraft health and identify commands a spacecraft would execute autonomously. APL flight autonomy engines are designed to accept new behaviors without a spacecraft reboot -- allowing our teams to customize these systems as we learn more about the spacecraft's operational environment and adjust to changes as our spacecraft age through (and often beyond) their designed lifetimes.

The practice of autonomy is robust, and it evolves rapidly. Our team constantly evaluates new tools, techniques and algorithms to increase the level of autonomous actions in our spacecraft to enhance mission-enabling tasks, such as detecting cyber intrusions, networking spacecraft constellations, impacting a nearby asteroid or flying on another celestial body.

Missions

APL has designed, built and operated more than 70 innovative spacecraft over its six decades of spaceflight experience. Click below to learn about some of the missions that made revolutionary discoveries, and spacecraft that will push the boundaries of exploration and investigate outstanding scientific mysteries.

Learn more about DART
A spacecraft covered in gold foil and a tiny box-like companion satellite are in a space scene, with two asteroids: one gray, ellipsoidal and covered in the rocks, the other more pyramid-like; both are gray

DART

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is NASA’s first planetary defense test mission.

Stories

Go inside APL’s space missions and research, and check out the latest news, features and discoveries from the teams that are probing mysteries from the Sun to the edge of the solar system and beyond.

Two women stand together in front of a panel of windows
Jan 25, 2024

Wilson, Chen Honored With Women of Color Awards

Two Johns Hopkins APL staff members were recognized with 2023 Women of Color STEM awards. The annual awards honor promising innovators and inventors who have made an impact in their respective disciplines while also demonstrating a commitment to mentoring and encouraging women in STEM fields.
An illustration of a gold-colored spacecraft with large solar panels crashing into a coarse asteroid in space. Golden streams flow behind the spacecraft, giving the illusion that it's moving quickly.
Sep 26, 2023

From Impact to Innovation: A Year of Science and Triumph for Historic DART Mission

Last fall, the world watched as the DART spacecraft — the Double Asteroid Redirection Test — guided itself toward the asteroid Dimorphos for a direct collision, a major technical achievement and the first successful planetary defense test in history. Revisit DART's triumphant collision and the resulting year of science analysis and discoveries that followed.
A spacecraft covered in gold foil and a tiny box-like companion satellite are in a space scene, with two asteroids: one gray, ellipsoidal and covered in the rocks, the other more pyramid-like; both are gray
May 19, 2023

DART Mission Recognized for Aerospace Excellence

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), designed, built and operated by Johns Hopkins APL, was recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) with the organization's newest award -- the AIAA Award for Aerospace Excellence -- on May 18.