Dr. Richard J. Terrile
Richard J. Terrile, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist and Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Director of the Center for Evolutionary Computation and Automated Design with over 40 years of experience in planetary science, artificial intelligence, and space exploration. He is renowned as a Voyager mission scientist who discovered four moons of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and for taking the first images of a circumstellar disk around the star Beta Pictoris, marking the first direct observation of another solar system.
As a member of the Voyager imaging team, Rich discovered four of the moons around Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and took the first pictures of another solar system around the nearby star Beta Pictoris. Read Seeing and Believing: 15 Years of Exoplanet Images and Astronomers capture 1st direct image of young giant exoplanet.
As Principal Research Scientist at JPL since January 2009, Rich uses techniques based on biological evolution and development to advance the fields of robotics, virtual reality, and computer intelligence. He has developed missions to Mars and to the outer solar system throughout his distinguished career.
At JPL, Rich has held multiple leadership positions, including Data Science Manager from May 2023 to December 2024, where he was responsible for creating new business opportunities across the division for data science. He formed and led a development team that created institutional use cases for the Apple Vision Pro VR/AR device, developing several Vision Pro apps using immersive Mars terrain and high-resolution rover models for improved situational awareness in Mars rover operations.
His team developed the Exploring Mars Vision Pro app that debuted as the top educational app on the Apple App Store, earning him a JPL Team Leadership Award in 2024. Read Seeing and Believing: 15 Years of Exoplanet Images. Watch Explore the Mars Rover with Apple Vision Pro.
Rich created and is the Director of the JPL research and technology development center of excellence, the Center for Evolutionary Computation and Automated Design. He has pioneered the use of high-performance computing and stochastic optimization to demonstrate high-advantage use cases exceeding human performance. Read Evolutionary Computation Technologies for the Automated Design of Space Systems.
Rich has published numerous papers on his groundbreaking results and has been awarded 10 NASA Tech Brief and Software Awards, as well as an international "Hummie" award for demonstrating human competitive performance of autonomous systems.
His team has achieved breakthroughs in the automated design of spacecraft power systems, the optimization of low-thrust trajectories, the autonomous tuning of MEMS gyros, and the architectural optimization of spacecraft avionics.
Read Control of MEMS Disc Resonance Gyroscope (DRG) using a FPGA Platform, Evolutionary computation technologies for space systems, and Automated design of spacecraft power subsystems.
From 2019 to 2022, Rich served as Project Manager for the NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) X-Ray observatory in Earth orbit, where he was responsible for Mission Science and Operations Teams at Caltech, the Mission Operations Center at Berkeley, and the Management Team at NASA Headquarters. He received the JPL Voyager Award in 2022, "for capture leadership of the Gamow team that delivered a compelling Step 1 proposal for MIDEX."
Between 2010 and 2018, Rich served as Operations Manager, leading a team of over 100 people across 10 NASA Centers to solicit, evaluate, and select proposals for the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program. He led a large team (100+) across 10 NASA Centers to solicit, evaluate, and select proposals for the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program.
He was responsible for portfolio criteria and selection of approximately $80 million in technology proposals annually, increasing technology infusion performance by a factor of 3 to become the top NASA directorate for infusion. He developed and published technology portfolio performance metrics now used by all NASA directorates and received the JPL Explorer Award for exceptional leadership in the Science Mission Directorate SBIR Program. Read Balancing innovation with commercialization in NASA's Science Mission Directorate SBIR Program.
Rich's most celebrated scientific achievement occurred in 1984, when he used the 100-inch Du Pont telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, equipped with a coronograph and a Charged-Coupled Device (CCD) camera, to capture the first direct image of a circumstellar disk around Beta Pictoris. This groundbreaking discovery, based on the detection of infrared excess by IRAS, suggested the presence of dust particles and potential planet formation around the star. Though planets weren't detected at the time, Beta Pictoris b was later discovered in 2008 using data from 2003, followed by Beta Pictoris c in 2019. Read Beta Pictoris b - Wikipedia.
Rich earned his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the California Institute of Technology and his Master of Science in Planetary Astronomy and Science, also from Caltech. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Astronomy from Stony Brook University. His doctoral research laid the foundation for his career-long focus on planetary exploration and the search for extrasolar systems.
Throughout his career at JPL, Rich also served as Director of Software Engineering from January 2009 to July 2010, where he created and directed a JPL research and technology development center of excellence focused on evolutionary computation and automated design.
In this role, he formed, funded, and managed an interdisciplinary team of researchers and programmers that demonstrated innovative techniques to increase efficiency and lower costs in spacecraft systems design. Beyond his scientific achievements, Rich is known for his advocacy of the simulation hypothesis, the philosophical idea that our reality might be a computer-generated simulation. “It is something that even the Greeks have thought about: dreams within dreams,” says Rich. Watch Richard Terrile – The Universe as a Simulation.
He has given numerous talks on this topic, including appearances on major media outlets discussing how advances in computing power and virtual reality technology make this hypothesis increasingly plausible. Read Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now? and Are we living in a computer simulation? It's more likely than you might think, scientist argues.
Rich's expertise extends into the entertainment industry through his company, Terrile Science and Technical Consulting, where he provides science and technical consulting services for motion pictures, television, and corporate clients. He has interests in fiction writing, photography, cinematography, and movies, and works as a technical advisor on several major motion pictures, including work with Academy Award-winning directors James Cameron and Steven Soderbergh.He has worked as a technical consultant on major films including 2010: The Year We Made Contact, Solar Crisis, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Solaris.
Throughout his career, Rich has received numerous awards and recognitions. In 2024, he received the JPL Team Award "for delivering an engaging and educational Vision Pro app portraying the Perseverance rover." He was also awarded the JPL Voyager Award in 2022 and has been recognized for his exceptional leadership in the Science Mission Directorate SBIR Program Operations. His work has resulted in over 10 NASA Tech Brief and Software Awards and the international "Hummie" award for human-competitive autonomous systems.
Rich's other research interests include planetary rings, planetary geology, and the development of medical instrumentation for tissue identification during neurosurgery. His other interests include planetary geology and evolutionary computation.He continues to push the boundaries of space exploration and artificial intelligence, working on projects ranging from Mars mission planning to the development of advanced AI systems using evolutionary computation techniques.
An accomplished outdoorsman and performer, Rich is a private pilot, SCUBA and ski instructor, rock climber, and caver. He was also an astronaut candidate early in his career. Beyond his technical pursuits, he has been a regular performer at the Ice House and the Comedy Store in the "Improv Inferno" improvisation group, showcasing his creative side alongside his scientific endeavors. He has been featured in several science shows and continues to bridge the gap between complex scientific concepts and public understanding through his engaging presentations and media appearances.
He was born on March 22, 1951, in New York and currently resides in Pasadena, California. His unique combination of rigorous scientific research, technological innovation, and creative communication has made him one of NASA's most versatile and influential scientists. His work continues to inspire new generations of researchers in fields ranging from planetary science to artificial intelligence.
Visit his LinkedIn profile, Homepage, The Planetary Society profile, Ideacity page, and Wikipedia page. Follow him on IEEE Xplore.