NASA is continuing the Astrobee mission through a collaboration with Arkisys, Inc., of Los Alamitos, California, who was awarded a reimbursable Space Act Agreement to sustain and maintain the robotic platform aboard the International Space Station. As the agency returns astronauts to the Moon, robotic helpers like Astrobee could one day take over routine maintenance tasks and support future spacecraft at the Moon and Mars without relying on humans for continuous operation.
In March, the agency issued a call for partnership proposals to support its ongoing space research initiatives. Arkisys was selected to maintain the platform and continue enabling partners to use the Astrobee system as a means to experiment with new technologies in the microgravity environment of the space station.
NASA launched the Astrobee mission to the space station in 2018. Since then, the free-flying robots have marked multiple first-in-space milestones for robots working alongside astronauts to accomplish spacecraft monitoring, alert simulations, and more in partnership with researchers from industry and academia.
The Astrobee system includes three colorful, cube-shaped robots – named “Bumble,” “Honey,” and “Queen” – along with software and a docking station for recharging. The mission has advanced NASA’s goal of developing robotic systems and technologies that can perform tasks and support exploration, maintenance, and monitoring as humans venture further into space for longer durations.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation enabling research not possible on Earth. For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, where astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in human exploration at the Moon and Mars.
