Pierre Maldague

APGEN Scheduling: 15 Years of Experience in Planning Automation

In this paper, we discuss the scheduling capability of APGEN (Activity Plan Generator), a multi-mission planning application that is part of the NASA AMMOS (Advanced Multi- Mission Operations System), and how APGEN scheduling evolved over its applications to specific Space Missions. Our analysis identifies two major reasons for the successful application of APGEN scheduling to real problems: an expressive DSL (Domain-Specific Language) for formulating scheduling algorithms, and a well-defined process for enlisting the help of auxiliary modeling tools in providing high-fidelity, system-level simulations of the combined spacecraft and ground support system.

The Evolvable Advanced MultiMission Operations System (AMMOS): Making Systems Interoperable

The Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System (AMMOS) provides a common Mission Operation System (MOS) infrastructure to NASA deep space missions. The evolution of AMMOS has been driven by two factors: increasingly challenging requirements from space missions, and the emergence of new IT technology. The work described in this paper focuses on three key tasks related to IT technology requirements: first, to eliminate duplicate functionality; second, to promote the use of loosely coupled application programming interfaces, text based file interfaces, web-based frameworks and integrated Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) to connect users, data, and core functionality; and third, to build, develop, and deploy AMMOS services that are reusable, agile, adaptive to project MOS configurations, and responsive to industrially endorsed information technology standards.

Deep Impact Sequence Planning Using Multi-Mission Adaptable Planning Tools With Integrated Spacecraft Models

The Deep Impact mission was ambitious and challenging. JPLs well proven, easily adaptable multi-mission sequence planning tools combined with integrated spacecraft subsystem models enabled a small operations team to develop, validate, and execute extremely complex sequence-based activities within very short development times. This paper focuses on the core planning tool used in the mission, APGEN. It shows how the multi-mission design and adaptability of APGEN made it possible to model spacecraft subsystems as well as ground assets throughout the lifecycle of the Deep Impact project, starting with models of initial, high-level mission objectives, and culminating in detailed predictions of spacecraft behavior during mission-critical activities.