Intent-aligned Autonomous Spacecraft Guidance via Reasoning Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Takubo, Yuji, D'Amico, Simone
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Takubo, Yuji
D'Amico, Simone
author_facet Takubo, Yuji
D'Amico, Simone
contents Future spacecraft operations require autonomy that can interpret high-level mission intent while preserving safety. However, existing trajectory optimization still relies heavily on expert-crafted formulations and does not support intent-conditioned decision-making. This paper proposes an intent-aligned spacecraft guidance framework that links high-level reasoning and safe trajectory optimization through explicit intermediate abstractions, based on behavior sequences and waypoint constraints. A foundation model first predicts an intent-aligned behavior plan, a waypoint generation model then converts it into waypoint constraints, and the safe trajectory is computed via optimization. This decomposition enables scalable supervision without sacrificing safety. Numerical experiments in close-proximity operation scenarios demonstrate that the proposed pipeline achieves over 90\% SCP convergence and yields a $1.5\times$ higher rate of generating trajectories that satisfy the top intent-prioritized performance criteria than heuristic decision-making. These results support the use of intermediate behavior abstraction as a practical interface between foundation-model reasoning and safety-critical onboard spacecraft autonomy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17176
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Intent-aligned Autonomous Spacecraft Guidance via Reasoning Models
Takubo, Yuji
D'Amico, Simone
Systems and Control
Artificial Intelligence
Optimization and Control
Future spacecraft operations require autonomy that can interpret high-level mission intent while preserving safety. However, existing trajectory optimization still relies heavily on expert-crafted formulations and does not support intent-conditioned decision-making. This paper proposes an intent-aligned spacecraft guidance framework that links high-level reasoning and safe trajectory optimization through explicit intermediate abstractions, based on behavior sequences and waypoint constraints. A foundation model first predicts an intent-aligned behavior plan, a waypoint generation model then converts it into waypoint constraints, and the safe trajectory is computed via optimization. This decomposition enables scalable supervision without sacrificing safety. Numerical experiments in close-proximity operation scenarios demonstrate that the proposed pipeline achieves over 90\% SCP convergence and yields a $1.5\times$ higher rate of generating trajectories that satisfy the top intent-prioritized performance criteria than heuristic decision-making. These results support the use of intermediate behavior abstraction as a practical interface between foundation-model reasoning and safety-critical onboard spacecraft autonomy.
title Intent-aligned Autonomous Spacecraft Guidance via Reasoning Models
topic Systems and Control
Artificial Intelligence
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17176