Satellite Control Using Rational Agent Programming

Traditionally a satellite is a large and expensive piece of equipment, tightly controlled by a ground team with little scope for autonomy. The space industry has recently sought to abandon large monolithic platforms, however, in favor of multiple, smaller satellites working in teams to accomplish the task of a larger vehicle through distributed methods. Both financially and functionally motivated, such developments help reduce launch vehicle constraints and nearly eliminate ground station personnel costs, while introducing fault tolerance and redundancy into the system. Moreover, in some instances, a distributed platform is the only feasible method to accomplish a particular mission.