The center leverages artificial intelligence along with JPL's unique infrastructure, unmatched tools and decades of operational experience to support industry partners developing future missions to the surface of planets.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Wednesday opened its Rover Operations Center (ROC), a center of excellence for current and future ground missions to the Moon and Mars. During the launch, commercial space and artificial intelligence industry leaders toured the facilities, participated in working sessions with JPL mission teams, and learned more about NASA's Perseverance rover team's first-ever use of generative artificial intelligence to create future routes for a robotic explorer.
center was created to integrate and drive innovation into JPL's ground missions while forging strategic partnerships with industry and academia to advance U.S. interests in the growing space economy. The center builds on JPL's more than 30 years of experience developing and operating missions to the surface of Mars, including the only mission in human history. helicopter mission to Mars, as well as the only two active missions to the planet's surface.
“The Rover Operations Center is a force multiplier,” said JPL Director Dave Gallagher. “It combines decades of specialized knowledge with powerful new tools and exports that knowledge through partnerships to catalyze the next generation of ground missions to the Moon and Mars. As a federally funded NASA research center, we are mandated to do exactly this type of work—increasing the frequency, efficiency and impact of our transformative NASA missions, and supporting the commercial space market as it takes its own giant leaps.”
Through decades of successful Mars rover missions, JPL has continually refined the unique autonomy, robotic capabilities and best practices required by increasingly complex robotic explorers. ROC offers an accessible, centralized structure to facilitate future exploration activities.
“Our Mars rovers are longer lasting and more advanced than ever before. The scientific stakes are high, and we've just witnessed the discovery of a potential biosignature in Jezero Crater by the Perseverance mission. “We are entering a decade of unprecedented civil and commercial lunar exploration that will require robotic systems to assist astronauts and support lunar infrastructure,” said Matt Wallace, who heads JPL's Exploration Systems Directorate. “Mobile vehicles like rovers, helicopters and drones are the most dynamic and complex assets we manage. It's time to take our game to the next level and take everyone we can with us.”
A key focus of the Republic of China is to more quickly introduce higher levels of autonomy into ground missions through partnerships with AI and the commercial space industry. The goal is to be a catalyst for change to deliver next-generation research capabilities for the nation and NASA.
As NASA's only federally funded research center, JPL has been developing vehicle autonomy since the 1990s, when JPL began developing Temporarythe first Mars rover on another planet. Improvements in vehicle autonomy over the years have included evolutions in autonomy for sampling, driving, and selecting scientific targets. More recently, these improvements have extended to developing Perseverance's ability to autonomously plan and perform many energy-intensive actions on command, such as staying warm at night, at will. This capability allows the rover to conserve energy, which it can redistribute in real time to carry out more science tasks or longer trips.
With the explosion of artificial intelligence capabilities, the ROC rover team is leaving no stone unturned on Mars in its quest for future efficiency.
“We had a small team complete a 'three-week challenge' applying generative AI to several of our operational use cases. During this challenge, it became clear that there were many opportunities for AI adoption that could expand our capabilities,” said Jennifer Trosper, ROC program manager at JPL. “Through these new partnerships, we will work together to bring artificial intelligence into operations to chart the path to the next generation of science and research capabilities.”
During the ROC inauguration, participants toured JPL's operational facilities, including the places where Mars rover drivers plan their next routes. They also visited the historic Jet Propulsion Laboratory building. Mars Yardwhich reproduces the Martian landscape to test the rover's capabilities, and a massive 25ft space simulator which has tested spacecraft from Voyagers 1 and Perseverance to the next generation of American lunar landers. The panel discussion discussed the historical value of Mars rovers and airborne systems, such as the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, in exploring planetary surfaces. The prospect of a new public-private partnership opportunity in a virtual network of operational missions was also discussed.
Participants were briefed on multi-layered engagement options for partners, from mission architecture support to autonomy integration, testing and operations. These capabilities extend to scientific exploration and human-precursor robotic missions, as well as human-robot interaction and astronaut spacewalks to the Moon and Mars.
The highlight of the event was when the Perseverance team demonstrated how ROC's generative artificial intelligence can help rover planners create future rover routes. The AI analyzed high-resolution orbital images of Jezero Crater and other relevant data and then generated waypoints that kept Perseverance away from dangerous terrain.
JPL, operated by Caltech for NASA, is home to the Rover Operations Center (ROC).
To learn more about the ROC, visit:
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