You are invited to join us. The details of the Guest Lecture are the following:
Title: AI Agents in Space: Increasing Space Autonomy
Abstract: The space domain will experience an unprecedented growth in the number, diversity, and complexity of missions over the coming decades. Enabling this new era of space activity will require a fundamental shift in how spacecraft are operated, with increasing levels of onboard autonomy to reduce reliance on ground-based operators and enable timely, resilient decision-making. In this talk, I will present recent work from our lab on the development of AI agents for core autonomous spacecraft operations, with a focus on task planning and scheduling and on fault diagnostics. I will discuss the underlying algorithmic approaches, their integration into spacecraft flight software architectures, and lessons learned from applying these methods to realistic mission scenarios.
Biography: Daniel Selva is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he directs the Space Systems Engineering, Autonomy, and Knowledge (SEAK) Lab. His research focuses on the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and global optimization to space system design and autonomous operations, including planning and scheduling, knowledge representation and reasoning, and multi-agent coordination. Before earning his Ph.D. in Space Systems at MIT, Dr. Selva worked for four years as an avionics specialist on the Ariane 5 launch team in Kourou, French Guiana, contributing to 21 successful launches. He holds degrees in electrical and aerospace engineering from MIT, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona), and ISAE-SUPAERO (Toulouse). His research has been funded by NASA, NSF, JPL, DARPA, DoD, and industry partners including Lockheed Martin, the Ford Motor Company, and MathWorks. He has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and received multiple honors, including the 2023 Texas A&M Engineering Young Faculty Fellow Award and the 2025 College of Engineering Teaching Impact Award. Dr. Selva is an AIAA Associate Fellow, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Aerospace Information Systems, Deputy Director of the AIAA Information Systems Group, and a former member of ESA’s Advisory Committee for Earth Observation.
Date and place: Monday, February 9, 2026, at 16:00 CET. Lecture Hall, TUM Ottobrunn Campus (Lise-Meitner-Str. 9, 85521 Ottobrunn).