Machine Learning to Find Life on Mars and Beyond

Eric Lyness is the NASA software and operations lead at Goddard Space Flight Center for the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer on the ExoMars 2020 rover. At our February 26 meetup, he will present on Machine Learning to Find Life on Mars and Beyond.

Doors open at 6 pm and our program starts at 6:30 pm. The meetup will take place at the Univ. of Maryland in College Park. The Zupnik Lecture Hall is immediately inside the Paint Branch Drive entrance to the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building.

Eric's talk: In 2021 the European ExoMars rover will land on Mars with the Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer (MOMA) laboratory to analyze soil samples searching for past or present life. NASA is developing machine learning algorithms to help the scientists more quickly analyze the data when it arrives from Mars. In this talk, we will present the current work using MOMA mass spectrometer data acquired during ground testing. Using this data we are aiding the scientists by matching new spectra with the most similar spectra from past experiments. We will present the nuances of mass spectra, our limitations with respect to data, and our approach to the problem. We hope to elicit feedback from the attendees.

Visitor parking is available in the Xfinity Center Visitor's Lot and Regents Drive Garage. Both are unrestricted after 4:00 p.m. Also unrestricted after 4:00 is Lot H, which is located on the other side of Stadium Drive across from the Kim. Engineering Building. Lot H has between 80 and 90 spaces, so guests may be able to find parking there.

For public transportation, there is a free shuttle from the College Park Metro Station to the Regents Drive Garage. It is the UMD 104 route. Here is the link for shuttle information: https://transportation.umd.edu/shuttle-um