NASA · NASA-396 · record R0225

NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · SSC: Stennis Space Center

Overview

Development stage: In development or acquisitionSource: a) Pre-deployment – The use case is in a development or acquisition status.
High-impact designation: Not high-impactSource: c) Not high-impact
Impact justification: Not reported
Start date: Not reported
Withheld from public reporting: NoSource: a) No

Mission

Topic area: Science
Operational functions: No function tag matched Derived by keyword rules; see methodology

Problem the AI is intended to solve

The NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS) enables implementation of "thinking" systems, and in particular of "thinking" autonomous systems. A broad range of systems can be made to display "thinking" autonomous behavior; including fluid, mechanical, electrical, networks, and computer. Additional types of systems can be easily included.

Expected benefits

NPAS systems/applications incorporate autonomy strategies to deal with off-nominal cases, and strategies for fault management. NPAS includes infrastructure for autonomous operations (task definition, planning, scheduling, and execution) embodying specific concepts of operations. NPAS supports implementation of hierarchical distributed autonomous systems and operations.

System outputs

AI behavior, "thinking," is grounded in a comprehensive representation of the system (comparable to SysML model descriptions that include health management and autonomy behaviors as well as schematic level descriptions), behavior/function models (physics-based, heuristic, rule-based - probabilistic and neural-network models can also be incorporated), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) with generic/re-usable libraries.

Technology

AI classification: Agentic AISource: Agentic AI: AI systems that perform tasks or make decisions autonomously with minimal human intervention.
System name(s): Not reported
Custom-developed code: Not reported
Public source code: Not reported

Sourcing

How it was built: Not reported
Vendor (as reported): Not reported
Vendors (standardized): None on the standard list

A vendor is the supplier named by the agency. It does not identify the underlying model or AI technology.

Data and privacy

Involves PII: Not reported
Privacy Impact Assessment: Not reported
Authorization to Operate: Not reported
Demographic features: Not reported
Training and evaluation data: Not reported
Federal Data Catalog: Not reported

Governance

0 of 8 minimum-practice questions answered. A blank answer means the agency reported nothing; it does not mean the practice is absent.

Pre-deployment testingNo answer reported

AI impact assessmentNo answer reported

Independent reviewNo answer reported

Ongoing monitoringNo answer reported

Operator trainingNo answer reported

Fail-safeNo answer reported

Appeal processNo answer reported

User and public consultationNo answer reported

Potential impacts and how they were identified

Not reported