Khari Douglas interviews Dr. Behçet Açikmeşe. Behçet was a technologist and a senior member of the Guidance and Control (G&C) Analysis Group at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 2003 to 2012 where he developed guidance, control, and estimation algorithms for formation-flying spacecraft and distributed networked systems, proximity operations around asteroids and comets, and planetary landing. He is currently a Professor in Aeronautics & Astronautics, as well as Electrical & Computer Engineering, at the University of Washington and a member of their Autonomous Controls Lab. In this episode, Dr. Açikmeşe discuss his time at JPL and what it takes to land a rover on Mars.


Timestamps to jump to certain topics below:
Intro - (00:00)
Background and Joining NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory -(01:23)
Landing a Rover on Mars - (06:00)
Other Projects at JPL -(19:46)
Sensors on Spacecraft - (27:10)
Landing on Earth vs. Mars - (31:42)
Working at JPL and Career Advice - (33:55)		
Outro - (40:56)

Catalyzing Computing 2021

Autonomous Flight and Landing on Mars with Behçet Açikmeşe (Part 1)

The mission of Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community and enable the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research.

The CCC's official podcast, "Catalyzing Computing," features interviews with researchers and policy makers about their background and experiences in the computing community. The podcast also offers recaps of visioning workshops and other events hosted by the CCC. If you want to learn about some of the computing community's most influential members or keep tabs on the latest areas of interest then this is the podcast for you. 

Learn more about the CCC on our website https://cra.org/ccc/