ESA's first self-driving spacecraft heads to space for maiden tests – Fanatical Futurist by International Keynote Speaker Matthew Griffin

Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. You've heard of self-driving cars and trucks, flying cars, and probably even self-driving cargo ships, but soon we'll be able to add a new type of vehicle to the self-driving category – spacecraft. And if you're going to spend millions of dollars on a spacecraft, you might as well try to cram in as much as possible. With that in mind, the European Space Agency (ESA) has now detailed the "side mission" it's planning for the asteroid-visiting spacecraft Hera. After the projects main work is accomplished, which is to bump the asteroid off course, the new spacecraft will then test out some new autonomous navigation systems, which should help future spacecraft get around without relying on ground control all the way back on Earth – something that the agency sees as a necessity as we continue to explore the further reaches of space – and one day visit them.