TikTok on the Clock + Tesla’s Flop Era + How NASA Fixed a ’70s-Era Space Computer
On Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill into law that would force the sale of TikTok or ban the app outright. We explain how this came together, when just a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely to happen, and what legal challenges the law will face next. Then we check on Tesla’s very bad year and what’s next for the company after this week’s awful quarterly earnings report. Finally, to boldly support tech where tech has never been supported before: Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab try to fix a chip malfunction from 15 billion miles away.
Guests:
Andrew Hawkins, Transportation Editor at The Verge
Todd Barber, Propulsion Engineer at Jet Propulsion Lab
Additional Reading:
‘Thunder Run’: Behind Lawmakers’ Secretive Push to Pass the TikTok Bill
Tesla’s in its flop era
NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth
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AI on Mars: NASA’s Vandi Verma
When Vandi Verma saw the Spirit and Opportunity rovers land on Mars while she was working toward a Ph.D. in robotics, it set her on a path toward working at NASA in space exploration., Perhaps unsurprisingly, today, as chief engineer for robotic operations at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Vandi sees the biggest opportunities for artificial intelligence in robotics and automation.
She describes the ways in which the Mars rovers rely on AI, including the technology’s use in digital twin simulations that enable JPL scientists at to practice their driving skills before actually controlling the rovers on Mars. She also discusses how NASA’s use of AI — and its approach to risk — offer lessons for organizations that are looking to simulate real-world scenarios here on Earth. Read the episode transcript here.
Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger.
Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.
Guest bio:
Vandi Verma is a principal engineer and the deputy section manager for the Mobility & Robotics section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She also serves as chief engineer of robotic operations for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. She was previously the assistant section manager of the Mobility & Robotics section, the supervisor of the section staff group, and the supervisor of the Operable Robotics Group.
Verma works on new robotics capabilities, including R&D; mission design; prototyping; flight development, testing, and launch; and landing and surface operations. She has been engaged in robotic operations on Mars since 2008 with the Mars Exploration Rover mission's Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity rover, Perseverance rover, and Ingenuity helicopter.
Before joining JPL, she led the NASA Ames Research Center team that developed PLEXIL (Plan Execution Interchange Language) for operating autonomous systems, as well as the development of technology that has been deployed on rovers and human spaceflight projects.
Verma earned a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2005.
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Chris Mattmann — ML Applications on Earth, Mars, and Beyond
Chris shares some of the incredible work and innovations behind deep space exploration at NASA JPL and reflects on the past, present, and future of machine learning.
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Chris Mattmann is the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he focuses on organizational innovation through technology. He's worked on space missions such as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 and Soil Moisture Active Passive satellites.
Chris is also a co-creator of Apache Tika, a content detection and analysis framework that was one of the key technologies used to uncover the Panama Papers, and is the author of "Machine Learning with TensorFlow, Second Edition" and "Tika in Action".
Connect with Chris:
Personal website: https://www.mattmann.ai/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrismattmann
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Topics Discussed:
0:00 Sneak peek, intro
0:52 On Perseverance and Ingenuity
8:40 Machine learning applications at NASA JPL
11:51 Innovation in scientific instruments and data formats
18:26 Data processing levels: Level 1 vs Level 2 vs Level 3
22:20 Competitive data processing
27:38 Kerbal Space Program
30:19 The ideas behind "Machine Learning with Tensorflow, Second Edition"
35:37 The future of MLOps and AutoML
38:51 Machine learning at the edge
Transcript:
http://wandb.me/gd-chris-mattmann
Links Discussed:
Perseverance and Ingenuity: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
Data processing levels at NASA: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/collaborate/open-data-services-and-software/data-information-policy/data-levels
OCO-2: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/orbiting-carbon-observatory-2-oco-2
"Machine Learning with TensorFlow, Second Edition" (2020): https://www.manning.com/books/machine-learning-with-tensorflow-second-edition
"Tika in Action" (2011): https://www.manning.com/books/tika-in-action
Transcript:
http://wandb.me/gd-chris-mattmann
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AI in Space with NASA's Steve Chien
NSCAI commissioner Steve Chien, technical supervisor of the artificial intelligence group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, talks about the growing demand for AI solutions in space, from coordinating an increasing number of earth-orbiting objects to protecting critical communication satellites from attack.
How a miniaturized atomic clock could revolutionize space exploration | Jill Seubert
Ask any deep space navigator like Jill Seubert what makes steering a spacecraft so difficult, and they'll tell you it's all about the timing; a split-second can decide a mission's success or failure. So what do you do when a spacecraft is bad at telling time? You get it a clock -- an atomic clock, to be precise. Let Seubert whisk you away with the revolutionary potential of a future where you could receive stellar, GPS-like directions -- no matter where you are in the universe.
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Vision Systems for Planetary Landers and Drones with Larry Matthies - TWiML Talk #171
Today we’re joined by Larry Matthies, Sr. Research Scientist and head of computer vision in the mobility and robotics division at JPL. In our conversation, we discuss two talks he gave at CVPR a few weeks back, his work on vision systems for the first iteration of Mars rovers in 2004 and the future of planetary landing projects.
For the complete show notes, visit https://twimlai.com/talk/171.
Adventures of an asteroid hunter | Carrie Nugent
TED Fellow Carrie Nugent is an asteroid hunter -- part of a group of scientists working to discover and catalog our oldest and most numerous cosmic neighbors. Why keep an eye out for asteroids? In this short, fact-filled talk, Nugent explains how their awesome impacts have shaped our planet, and how finding them at the right time could mean nothing less than saving life on Earth.
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What time is it on Mars? | Nagin Cox
Nagin Cox is a first-generation Martian. As a spacecraft engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cox works on the team that manages the United States' rovers on Mars. But working a 9-to-5 on another planet -- whose day is 40 minutes longer than Earth's -- has particular, often comical challenges.
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