Future spacecraft could make autonomous choices

Space.com (7/2, Hsu) reported, "Some researchers are working on autonomous spacecraft, airships, and rovers that can cooperate intelligently while exploring distant worlds." According to the article, "A demonstration of how such a surface explorer might deploy will take place in the Mars Science Laboratory mission," where "NASA's Sky Crane carrier will hover above the surface of Mars on retrorockets while lowering an SUV-sized rover using a winch and tether." Beyond this, Wolfgang Fink of Caltech University is designing algorithms that would allow craft to "decide independently" what objects to investigate. "The field tests may pave the way for using similar command software on the proposed NASA and European mission to Titan or Europa. Fink and other researchers involved with the planning have begun discussing how such a mission might shape up by the 2017 launch date."