What is the Remote Agent experiment?
It is a computer software experiment on board Deep Space 1 that represents a big step forward in spacecraft autonomy. It is designed to allow spacecraft to make a wider variety of decisions for themselves than they have been able to in the past. Deep Space 1 s remote agent software is capable of planning and executing many activities onboard the spacecraft, with only general direction being given from ground controllers on Earth. In contrast to remote control, this software acts as an autonomous “remote agent” of controllers because they rely on it to achieve particular mission goals. Ground controllers do not tell the agent exactly what to do at each instant of time as they do with conventional spacecraft; rather they assign it more generalized tasks.
