The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is being chal
lenged to perform more frequent and intensive space-exploration missio
ns at greatly reduced cost. Nowhere is this challenge more acute than
among robotic planetary exploration missions that the Jet Propulsion L
aboratory (JPL) conducts for NASA. This article describes recent and o
ngoing work on spacecraft autonomy and ground systems that builds on a
legacy of existing success at JPL applying AI techniques to challengi
ng computational problems in planning and scheduling, real-time monito
ring and control, scientific data analysis, and design automation.