Events Calendar

CS Colloquium: Steve Chien (JPL) - The Growing Role for Artificial Intelligence in Space Exploration and the Search for Life Beyond Earth

Speaker: Steve Chien, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Talk Title: The Growing Role for Artificial Intelligence in Space Exploration and the Search for Life Beyond Earth

Series: Computer Science Colloquium

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence is playing an increasing role in our everyday lives and the business marketplace. This trend extends to the space sector, where AI has already shown considerable success and has the potential to revolutionize almost every aspect of space exploration. I first highlight a number of success stories of the tremendous impact of Artificial Intelligence in Space: over a dozen years of operations of the Autonomous Sciencecraft on EO-1, the Earth Observing Sensorweb tracking volcanoes, flooding and wildfires and automated targeting onboard the MSL Curiosity rover. Next I describe several search and optimization formulations of space scheduling problems: data management for spacecraft and observation scheduling. Finally I discuss why AI is critical to search for life beyond Earth, highlighting the role of AI in Europa Submersible and Interstellar mission concepts.

RSVP: https://goo.gl/forms/iLw0LrMKq6JvqxkD3

This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.


Biography: Dr. Steve Chien is a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology where he leads efforts in autonomous systems for space exploration. Dr. Chien has received numerous awards for his research in space autonomous systems including: NASA Medals in 1997, 2000, 2007, and 2015; he is a four time honoree in the NASA Software of the Year competition (1999, 1999, 2005, 2011); and in 2011 he was awarded the inaugural AIAA Intelligent Systems Award. He has led the deployment of ground and flight autonomy software to numerous missions including the Autonomous Sciencecraft/Earth Observing One, WATCH/Mars Exploration Rovers, Earth Observing Sensorwebs, IPEX, and ESA's Rosetta.


Host: AAAI@USC

Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Computer Science Department