Autonomous spacecraft are under development, and will in the future allow us to explore parts of the solar system, and later the galaxy, that are inaccessible to human explorers, according to NASA scientists.

Writing in the journal Science Robotics, Steve Chien and Kiri L Wagstaff, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that the next generation of space robots will be able to “think for themselves”, allowing them to continue to take readings, interpret data and detect notable geological events on other planets, even when out of contact with Earth.

“By making their own exploration decisions, robotic spacecraft can conduct traditional science investigations more efficiently and even achieve otherwise impossible observations, such as responding to a short-lived plume at a comet millions of miles from Earth,” the authors wrote.

Autonomous spacecraft would tackle one of the biggest issues currently faced when working with unmanned spacecraft: communication blackouts. At present, work with unmanned craft is hampered by periods where communication is impossible, or very delayed. In these cases, the craft can often be sat idling, with no instructions to undertake until it gets back into contact.

However, advancements in artificial intelligence are increasingly making it possible for such spacecraft to continue to work without direct instruction, instead carrying out overall directives in response to the environments they are operating in.

“One goal of autonomy is to enable robots to detect and respond to unexpected conditions without sitting idle until the next Earth command arrives,” wrote Chien and Wagstaff. “In an exciting development, many spacecraft have increasing ability to make their own decisions and accelerate scientific discoveries.”

The spacecraft could even respond to short-lived events that normally would not be possible to capture due to the delay between scientists on Earth recognising such an event was happening and the spacecraft receiving an instruction to record data from it. One example of such an event would be active plumes, such as those recently observed on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which may in the future be observed on other bodies including moons and comets.

The advancements could even, the authors say, allow systems outside of our galaxy to be explored. The neighbouring system of Alpha Centauri, for example, would take a robot spacecraft 60 years to get to, making it a viable option for a drone craft to explore, but not one we could send humans to.

“The ultimate challenge for robotic science explorers would be to visit our nearest neighbouring solar system, Alpha Centauri,” Chien and Wagstaff wrote.

“Upon arrival, the spacecraft would need to operate independently for years, even decades, exploring multiple planets in the system. Today’s AI innovations are paving the way to make this kind of autonomy a reality.”