MrSPOCK : a Long-term Planning Tool for MARS EXPRESS

This paper describes MrSPOCK (MARS EXPRESS Science Plan Opportunities Coordination Kit), a decision support system for long-term mission planning. The work was carried out within the Advanced Planning and Scheduling Initiative (APSI), a project funded by ESA which aims at creating the basis for a general, flexible and reusable software framework (named here APSI-TRF – APSI Timeline-based Representation Framework) to facilitate injection of AI Planning and Scheduling in space missions to enhance ESA mission operation management performance. The paper first overviews the framework features then shows them at work in supporting the realization of MrSPOCK. The paper shows how to solve an interesting multi-objective optimization problem requiring the satisfaction of various temporal and causal constraints. It then shows how the modeling capabilities of the APSI-TRF supports both the synthesis of an end-to-end approach to the problem, and open the possibility to flexible extensions of the application with added value in terms of modularity, extensibility and reusability. To this purpose, the main steps for the development of an extended application, which includes a model of the satellite power management subsystem are also

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