https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_1#Remote_Agent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_1#Remote_Agent 20 years ago was meant to start developing the t

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_1#Remote_Agent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_1#Remote_Agent 20 years ago was meant to start developing the tech to avoid this kind of almost-disaster -- an early proposal for the project highlighted this scenario of falling into safe mode during a flyby. The aim was to go from preplanning each detailed motion to an adaptable AI working from a representation of mission goals, a plan to achieve them, and a model of the hardware. When things go wrong, it tries to diagnose the fault and repair the plan. When every mission costs a zillion dollars and much of many people's careers, of course you're going to stick with the hardcoded scripts until you're really sure of the above tech, sadly.