Virtual collaborations with the real: NASA's new era in space exploration

If new technologies can inspire a new understanding of our universe, we might ask how far and in what direction can computer science research itself be pushed? NASA is poised to play a significant role in answering this question. Traditionally, NASA has pointed the way for many new technologies. NASA has identified the directions that have led to the breakthroughs in flight and space flight that we now often take for granted, playing a key leadership role that has galvanized large research, development and industrial communities. NASA will need to play a similar role in tomorrow's computer science research, developing critical enabling technologies to support future missions. To play that role, NASA Ames Research Center has recently changed its research focus to computer science and artificial intelligence.