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About

Mark Powell is a pioneering robotics engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose work has fundamentally advanced planetary surface exploration through multi-robot systems and mission operations software. His research focuses on cooperative navigation, autonomous behaviors for mobile science missions, and human-robot interaction for space exploration. Powell’s most influential contribution is the TRESSA system (39 citations), which demonstrated how teams of robots could collaboratively explore steep, hazardous terrain on the Moon and Mars—a concept critical for future sample return missions. He also developed color segmentation techniques for micro-rover cooperative navigation (30 citations), enabling a “mother-daughter” robot pair to maintain relative positioning in unstructured lighting. Powell played a key role in the Web Interface for Telescience (WITS), a multi-mission activity planning tool (13 citations) used for Mars lander and rover operations, and contributed to the ATHLETE hex-limbed rover field tests. His work on the Stage system (11 citations) brought immersive CAVE environments into mission operations, allowing scientists to visualize and control space robots from Earth. With over 120 total citations spanning two decades, Powell’s innovations in spatial planning and scalable terrain formats continue to shape how NASA plans and executes robotic exploration missions.