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About

Gary Doran is a leading researcher in autonomous robotic systems for planetary exploration, with a focus on enabling precise, real-time instrument operations on extraterrestrial surfaces. His work bridges computer vision, robotics, and space science, developing algorithms that allow rovers and landers to autonomously position instruments and select scientifically valuable targets without human intervention. Doran’s most influential contribution is his role on the PIXL instrument team for NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, as detailed in his highly cited 2020 paper (135 citations), which describes the X-ray lithochemistry instrument that maps elemental composition of Martian rocks. He also pioneered the ARIEL system (2020, 7 citations) for autonomous excavation site selection on the proposed Europa Lander mission, and developed an optical sensor system (2022, 8 citations) for precise arm positioning relative to unknown surfaces—a capability critical for future sample-return and ocean-world missions. His work on radiation-tolerant, resource-constrained onboard data analysis (2022, 4 citations) further addresses the bandwidth and latency challenges of deep-space communication. Doran’s research directly empowers NASA’s most ambitious planetary science goals, making autonomous exploration safer, faster, and more data-rich.