Olivier Dubois-Matra

European Space Research and Technology Centre, European Space Agency

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Olivier Dubois-Matra is a researcher specializing in autonomous navigation, computer vision, and space systems engineering, with a particular focus on enabling robotic spacecraft and planetary landers to navigate complex environments without human intervention. His work spans more than a decade, beginning with foundational contributions to virtual test environments for validating spacecraft optical navigation — a critical capability for missions involving planetary landings, asteroid sampling, and orbital rendezvous and docking. This early research established robust simulation frameworks that remain essential to the development pipeline for space navigation systems. More recently, Dubois-Matra has pushed the frontier of deep learning applications in space exploration. His 2022 paper on robust deep learning LiDAR-based pose estimation for autonomous space landers has garnered 16 citations, demonstrating the growing community interest in AI-driven solutions for safe planetary descent. His 2024 work on deep visual odometry combining standard and event-based cameras — accumulating 12 citations in a short time — reflects his commitment to solving navigation challenges in GPS-denied environments such as planetary terrains, where reliability under low-light and high-speed conditions is paramount. Taken together, his research represents a coherent and impactful body of work bridging classical spacecraft engineering with modern machine learning.