Autonomy in space

Three decades have passed since “2001: A Space Odyssey” first took its viewers through space and introduced them to a new breed of soft-spoken computer. The movie dealt with issues we continue to contemplate: the possibility of life elsewhere and self-governing technology. We explore how these issues have evolved. Placing responsibility in the hands of machines requires immense trust. However, as space exploration faces an ever-diminishing budget, it can also offer attractive economical incentives. We view autonomy through the eyes of five experts, specializing in the Al community, the Earth observation program, the manned space program, operations, and planetary science. They all share the task of evaluating autonomy´s effectiveness in space. We asked them all one main question, “What has been autonomy´s impact on your field?”. The responses ranged from enthusiastic optimism to cautious reserve, indicating that the jury´s still out on autonomy