Thank you for logging in to the Deep Space 1 mission status information site, now ranked number 1 for over 200 days on the list of most popular sites in the solar system for information on this technology validation mission. This message was logged in at 10:30 am Pacific Time on Saturday, May 15.

The mission of Deep Space 1 continues to go extremely well. Of DS1's payload of 12 exotic technologies, one is scheduled for its first test next week. The others are working well, with 7 having accomplished 100% of their planned basic testing, and the others being on schedule with at least 85% of the experimenting complete. Tests continue on all of the technologies, in many cases simply to determine how the devices fare as they age in space. It is remarkable how well many of these formerly high-risk technologies are working, thus assuring roles for them in future exciting space and Earth science missions.

The focus of DS1's work this month is to test that 12th technology ­­ an artificial intelligence system known as a remote agent. In contrast to remote control, this sophisticated set of computer programs acts as an agent of the operations team on board the remote spacecraft. Rather than have humans do the detailed planning necessary to carry out desired tasks, remote agent will formulate its own plans, using high level goals provided by the operations team. Remote agent devises its plan by combining those goals with its detailed knowledge of both the condition of the spacecraft and principles in how to control it. It then executes that plan, constantly monitoring its progress. If problems develop, remote agent in many cases will be able to fix them or work around them. If it cannot, it can request help from its sentient terrestrial collaborators. This powerful technology is the product of work by many experts at NASA's Ames Research Center and JPL, along with important contributions from Carnegie-Mellon University. Remote agent, like all of the high-risk technologies that have now been tested on DS1, promises to make space exploration of the future more productive and more exciting while staying within NASA's limited budget. By transferring functions normally performed by people to the remote agent, a spacecraft may be more agile in responding to unexpected situations it encounters. In addition, if NASA is to achieve its goal of launching many more spacecraft into the solar system without spending more money, it will be necessary to have the Deep Space Network, NASA's worldwide network of stations used to communicate with probes in deep space, devote less time to communicating with each one. By carrying out some of the work humans now perform, remote agent will permit spacecraft to fulfill their missions without much of the time consuming communications, thus allowing the Deep Space Network to serve more spacecraft.

At the beginning of this month, a change to the main software controlling the spacecraft was radioed to Deep Space 1 and loaded into its computer. This change, planned since before launch, was needed to allow the remote agent to work with the rest of the spacecraft's computer programs. The complex procedure of sending the software and starting it running was completed perfectly by May 4. Two days later, the operations team began the long process of sending the remote agent programs themselves to the spacecraft. While these computer files were being sent, the spacecraft detected a problem. Its protective software took action and ultimately placed the spacecraft in a predefined safe configuration known as standby. The cause of this event on the evening of Thursday, May 6, is not yet known and is under investigation. Just prior to the spacecraft detecting a problem, the Deep Space Network experienced the disruption of a transmission while sending the remote agent files to the spacecraft. Known as "command aborts," such disruptions occur occasionally, but have never been linked to a spacecraft problem; nevertheless, the possibility of a causal relationship between these two events is being studied. At any rate, by early afternoon of the next day, the Deep Space 1 operations team had returned the spacecraft to normal cruise configuration.

The software modification that had been installed was deleted when DS1 entered standby. So the change was transmitted to the spacecraft again and reinstalled by Tuesday, May 11. In the intervening weekend, another test was conducted of one of the advanced technologies, the combination camera and imaging spectrometer, known to faithful readers of this log as MICAS.

The spacecraft is now nearly ready for remote agent to take control. That big step will occur this coming week, and your loyal correspondent will update this log when remote agent is at the helm.

Meanwhile, the spacecraft is on course for a July 29 interception of an asteroid with the evocative yet unassuming name 1992 KD. The bold encounter, while not a critical part of the mission, will allow a very challenging final test of a portion of DS1's autonomous navigation system. In addition, the event offers the bonus opportunity to return exciting scientific data using the two advanced science instruments DS1 has tested. JPL and The Planetary Society are conducting a contest to select a better name, if that's possible, for this asteroid. The URL for the contest is http://www.planetary.org/news/contest-ds1.html.

Deep Space 1 is now more than three-quarters as far as the Sun and 307 times farther than the moon. At this distance of about 118 million kilometers, or about 73 million miles, radio signals traveling at the universal limit of the speed of light, take 13 minutes to make the round trip.

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