MAKING AN IMPACT - ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE AT THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

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.