space

The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is stepping into the future with a groundbreaking new project to develop ‘smart skin’ for robots in space. The project, commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA), aims to create protective sleeves for robotic arms, making them safer and more practical for astronauts to interact with in the challenging space environment.

A team of legged robots from ETH Zurich may soon be hopping their way across lunar terrains. With the European Space Agency (ESA) and other space organizations looking towards lunar mining and exploration, the need for proficient exploration vehicles is paramount. To address this, researchers at ETH Zurich have suggested deploying not just a single rover, but an entire team of different robotic vehicles and aerial devices to explore the Moon.

Jamie Paik and her team of researchers at EPFL have chalked up a first in the world of modular robotics by developing an origami robot that can change shape, move around and interact with objects and people.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that S&K Engineering and Research, LLC was awarded the Intelligent Robotic and Control System Services (IRCSS) III task order, supporting the Engineering Directorate – Software Robotics and Simulation Division at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX.

Researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT – Italian Institute of Technology) have recently realized a new prototype robotic platform for space applications. The new robot, called MARM, has three limbs that can be used to walk, move, grasp and transport payload modules while self-relocating itself on the space infrastructure under microgravity environment.

Astrobotic announces the acquisition of Masten Space Systems, a space technologies company with suborbital payload testing services, which has completed more than 600 vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) rocket flights. The acquisition also includes Masten’s portfolio of space technology development programs with over 18 years of operations.

A miniaturized robot invented by Nebraska Engineering Professor Shane Farritor may soon work in space. NASA has awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln $100,000 through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) at the University of Nebraska Omaha to ready the surgical robot for a 2024 test mission aboard the International Space Station. 

NASA’s On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1), the first to robotically refuel a satellite not designed to be serviced, and will also demonstrate assembly and manufacturing technologies and capabilities, has passed its mission critical design review (CDR). This is an important milestone that paves the way for the construction of the spacecraft, payloads, and ground system.

Mexico has officially started the COLMENA Project, the first Mexican lunar exploration mission. The mission, which will land on the moon in June, consists of five small robots that will be placed on the lunar surface. They are already on board the Peregrine Lander, made by the US Astrobotic company, and ready to travel the 384,400 kilometers that separate Earth from the moon.

Artificial intelligence is classifying real supernova explosions without the traditional use of spectra, thanks to a team of astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics -Harvard & Smithsonian. The complete data sets and resulting classifications are publicly available for open use.