Invited Speaker: Formally Specifying Autonomous and Agent-Based NASA Space Exploration Missions

[Summary form only given]. NASA plans innovative and novel approaches to future (unmanned) space exploration missions. Future missions involve sending spacecraft and robots to harsh environments, where resilience is necessary for the survival of the mission. In addition, distances and communication lead times between the spacecraft and Earth, necessitate much of the mission operation being autonomous. We have been conducting research on using agent-based concepts and in developing autonomous systems based on Autonomic Computing, whereby the mission is embued with self-management capabilities. The need for assurance that decisions, etc., taken by the mission are within the remit of the mission and will ensure its surviveability is of growing importance. We describe the PAM (Prospecting Asteroid Mission) sub-mission of the ANTS (Autonomous Nano Technology Swarm) concept mission, which illustrates the issues that may potentially arise in future swarm-based missions. We describe our approach to formally specifying ANTS and other missions, as well as efforts to apply agent-oriented software engineering and formal methods in a combined framework.