Kanaria

The goal of this project is the simulation of an autonomous deep-space mission for asteroid mining. The retrieval of valuable resources available on asteroids is essential for future space missions.

The main challenge is the need for autonomous navigation in the different stages of a mining mission because of high signal latencies, high velocities and mostly unknown conditions close to and on the asteroid.

Within this project we develop a simulated space craft with an autonomous decision system, which is able to make the decision required in the different phases of navigation and mining by means of bio-inspired and cognitive-motivated strategies. This includes autonomous planing and navigation as well as trajectory optimization and control.This project, which is coordinated by us, is a cooperation with partners from Bremen and Munich. It is a project by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie; BMWi).