Tom Keane co-authors the NASA/ESA book, “Intelligent Machines: An Interdisciplinary Approach”. He is the Corporate Vice President for Mission Engineering at Microsoft Azure. Tom has over 20 years of experience in software engineering, system architecture, and computer systems design for high-performance computing applications.
Expanding its focus to space and the future of planet earth, he is also Co-Chairman of the International Committee on Space Development (ICSD) and International Council on Systems Engineering (ICSEN) President. Tom Keane is also a National Academy of Engineering member and a Fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics.
Tom received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Tulane University. He received his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Computer Science from UCLA. Making his first steps in high-performance computing, he worked at Tera Computer Company in 1993 and later served as Chief Engineer at Radisys Corporation in 1996. In 1998 Tom Keane joined NASA Ames Research Center as a research scientist and was later promoted to associate research scientist.
This, after which he was awarded a NASA Level 2 Space Technology Fellowship. Partnering with HPE, NASA has been working on a project exploring using cloud AI capabilities for space exploration. According to Tom Keane, the project, dubbed the Spaceborne Computer, is part of NASA’s Project Artemis-named after the twin sister of Apollo. The Spaceborne Computer is an example of a networked computer in space.
This networked computer uses cloud AI to help astronauts combat issues on board the International Space Station (ISS). NASA and Thales Alenia Space have announced two data apps leveraging Microsoft Azure: ESA (European Space Agency) Earth Explorer, to be hosted in Azure France, and a new joint app with French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales). Tom Keane finally adds that both projects aim to use data available in real-time from on-orbit satellites that can help monitor climate change and its effects.
