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space-robots.org / papers

A Space Robots community project. Metadata from arXiv, OpenAlex, NASA NTRS, Crossref and Semantic Scholar.

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Mission / Mars

Spirit & Opportunity (MER)

NASA / JPL · 2003–2019 · also Mars Exploration Rovers, MER, Spirit, Opportunity

Twin Mars Exploration Rovers that landed in 2004; Opportunity drove more than 45 km and pioneered visual odometry and autonomous driving on Mars.

Official mission page

Papers: 57
Named in: 7 in title · 57 in abstract · 20 in keywords

Papers per year

1

8

10

8

9

2

2

2

0

2

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3

1

2

0

3

1

2010’102011’112012’122013’132014’142015’152016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’252026’26

Top techniques

Surface Mobility & Terramechanics17
Perception & State Estimation14
Autonomy, Task Planning & Operations7
Design, Mechanisms & Hardware5
Learning-based Methods5
Motion Planning & Navigation5

Top venues

IEEE Aerospace6
LPSC5
ICRA3
SpaceOps3
AIAA SPACE / ASCEND2
JFR / Field Robotics2

Also mentioned

Curiosity (MSL)22
Mars Sample Return7
Perseverance (Mars 2020)7
Rosalind Franklin (ExoMars)2
SPHERES2
InSight1

/

PLANETARY ROBOTICS5ISRU & CONSTRUCTION0ORBITAL ROBOTICS0IN-SPACE SERVICING0PROGRAMS & POLICY0Unassigned0

Manipulation & Grasping4Surface Mobility & Terramechanics17Microgravity Mobility & Free-Flyers0Rendezvous, Proximity Ops & Docking0Perception & State Estimation14Motion Planning & Navigation5Guidance, Dynamics & Control1Learning-based Methods5Foundation Models & LLMs0Autonomy, Task Planning & Operations7HRI & Teleoperation4Multi-Robot & Swarms1Simulation, Digital Twins & Benchmarks4Design, Mechanisms & Hardware5

Preprint (arXiv only)0Any workshop1

Space robotics & aerospace

iSpaRo0i-SAIRAS0ASTRA0IEEE Aerospace1IAC0AIAA SciTech0AIAA SPACE / ASCEND0SMC-IT/SCC0IEEE SPACE0ASCE Earth & Space0SmallSat0AMOS0SpaceOps0AAS GN&C0AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics0AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics0ICES0Aerospace Mechanisms04S Symposium0COSPAR0Space Resources Roundtable0NASA Technical Report0LPSC0

Robotics

ICRA0IROS0RSS0CoRL0Humanoids0CASE0AIM0ROBIO0SII0Robomec0

Other venues3

–

Has code0Classics0

5 papers naming Spirit & Opportunity

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AI4MARS: A Dataset for Terrain-Aware Autonomous Driving on Mars

Robert Michael Swan, Deegan Atha, Henry A. Leopold, Matthew Gildner +3 moreCVPR Workshop 2021 104 citedJun 1, 2021

Space × AIPLANETARY ROBOTICS Perception & State Estimation Learning-based Methods Simulation, Digital Twins & Benchmarks Curiosity Spirit & Opportunity Perseverance

Jun 1, 2021

Multi-mission Terrain Classifier for Safe Rover Navigation and Automated Science

Deegan Atha, Robert Michael Swan, Annie Didier, Zaki Hasnain +1 moreIEEE Aerospace 2022 16 citedMar 5, 2022

Space × Robotics × AIPLANETARY ROBOTICS Learning-based Methods Motion Planning & Navigation Curiosity Spirit & Opportunity Perseverance

Mar 5, 2022

Autonomous Science Target Detection and Touchability Assessment for Planetary Exploration

ChenPublished 2026Mar 20, 2026

Space × Robotics × AIPLANETARY ROBOTICS Perception & State Estimation Learning-based Methods Autonomy, Task Planning & Operations Mars Sample Return Spirit & Opportunity

Mar 20, 2026

Computer Vision for Space Exploration

Dharini Raghavan, Bhavana B RaoPublished 2020 1 citedOct 9, 2020

Space × AIPLANETARY ROBOTICS Perception & State Estimation Learning-based Methods Autonomy, Task Planning & Operations Spirit & Opportunity

Oct 9, 2020

Mars Terrain Image Classification using Cartesian Genetic Programming

Jürgen Leitner, Harding, Simon, Forster, Alexander, Jürgen SchmidhuberInternational Symposium on Artificial Intelligence 2012 19 citedSep 1, 2012

Space × AIPLANETARY ROBOTICS Perception & State Estimation Learning-based Methods Spirit & Opportunity

Sep 1, 2012