ARIE 2026: 1st Frontier Workshop on Autonomy, Reasoning, and Intelligence Beyond Earth
ARIE 2026 will be held in the Cross-AI Symposium 2026.
Introduction
The next generation of space exploration, spanning autonomous spacecraft, lunar infrastructure, planetary robotics, and deep-space missions, demands a fundamental shift from human-in-the-loop operation toward AI-driven mission intelligence. As missions extend beyond Earth, reliance on ground-based computation, high-bandwidth communications, and real-time human control becomes increasingly constrained.
Space systems must operate with limited computation, energy, memory, storage, and bandwidth while facing radiation, sensor degradation, communication delays, intermittent connectivity, and uncertain environments. These conditions challenge predefined autonomy and require AI/ML capable of long-horizon reasoning, learning from sparse and distributed data, adaptive resource management, multi-agent coordination, and resilient decision-making with limited terrestrial intervention.
Autonomy, Reasoning, and Intelligence Beyond Earth (ARIE) explores the algorithmic foundations, architectures, and learning methodologies for this emerging paradigm across four interconnected directions: agentic AI and autonomous mission intelligence; resource-efficient and onboard edge AI; trustworthy, secure, and resilient intelligence; and collective, swarm, and embodied intelligence.
The workshop adopts a cross-disciplinary perspective spanning AI/ML, robotics, computer vision, aerospace engineering, embedded computing, communications and networking, information theory, applied physics, and space science. Its methods may also benefit extreme terrestrial environments where resources, connectivity, or human access are similarly constrained. SpaceAI brings together researchers and practitioners to advance intelligent, adaptive, secure, and resilient systems beyond Earth.
Topics
Agentic AI & Autonomous Mission Intelligence
- Mission-Level Reasoners: Agentic AI, long-horizon planning, and real-time mission replanning without ground control.
- Uncertainty & Latency Mitigation: Decision-making models optimized for multiminute feedback loops and degraded inputs.
- Goal-Directed Autonomy: Resource-aware, self-directed scheduling, execution, and in-situ autonomous science tracking.
Collective, Swarm, & Embodied Intelligence
- Multi-Agent Coordination: Distributed reinforcement learning, collective swarm intelligence, and heterogeneous fleet management (orbiters, landers, rovers).
- Embodied Space AI: Learning-based perception, active vision, slip compensation, and terrain navigation in unmapped environments.
- Sim-to-Real Adaptation: Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) and domain adaptation frameworks for validating AI models prior to deployment.
Trustworthy, Secure, & Resilient SpaceAI
- Inspection Intelligence: Vision and learning models for autonomous robotic/drone-based structural defect detection under extreme environmental stress.
- Self-Healing Models: Real-time anomaly detection, self-monitoring, safety-constrained learning, and automated fault recovery.
- Space AI Security: Algorithmic protection against model hallucination, adversarial manipulation, and in-situ data poisoning.
Resource-Efficient & Onboard Edge AI
- Hardware-Aware Architectures: Sparse, heavily quantized, neuromorphic, and radiation-tolerant neural network deployment.
- Distributed Onboard Learning: Decentralized, collaborative model updates via onboard federated learning without raw data exchange.
- Cognitive Compression: Semantic, task-aware, and generative data prioritization to maximize constrained orbital bandwidth.
Important Dates (AoE)
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| October 26, 2026 | Full/Short Paper Submission |
| November 2, 2026 | Poster/Demo Paper Submission |
| November 16, 2026 | Acceptance Notification |
| November 30, 2026 | Video Submission; E-Poster Submission; Camera-Ready Submission |
| December 2, 2026 | Author Registration Deadline |
| December 14-16, 2026 | Cross-AI Pre-Conference Symposium |
Submission
1. Papers
Papers follow the IEEE conference manuscript templates (Overleaf or US Letter), in English, as PDF, and are reviewed double-blind.
| Category | Length (including references) |
|---|---|
| Full paper | 8–10 pages |
| Short paper | 5–7 pages |
| Poster paper | 3–4 pages |
| Demo paper | 2–3 pages with a link to a 2-minute demo video |
2. E-Posters and Demo Videos
Electronic posters and demo videos are reviewed.
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| E-Poster | 1-page electronic poster (PDF); Optional for all submissions (Full, Short, Poster, and Demo) |
| Demo Video | up to 2-minute demo video |
3. Presentation videos
Accepted submissions provide a pre-recorded video.
| Category | Presentation | Q&A |
|---|---|---|
| Full paper | 15 minutes | 3 minutes |
| Short paper | 10 minutes | 2 minutes |
| Poster | 6 minutes | 2 minutes |
| Demo | 5 minutes (system description + showcase) | 2 minutes |
All submissions are made through the AirBalloon conference management system and evaluated through a unified process. All accetpted papers will be published in the indexed Cross-AI conference proceedings.
At least one author must register for the workshop. Authors may optionally have their papers considered for further publication in an IEEE-published Cross-AI Special Edition in 2027, subject to Cross-AI approval and an additional publication fee.
Cross-AI Group
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If you are interested in serving on the workshop program committee or paper reviewing, please apply online.