A robot just built a structure autonomously in space for the 1st time ever
For the first time, a robot has autonomously built part of a structure in space, demonstrating a breakthrough that could fundamentally change space exploration.
Key points
- Concept art for a space-based antenna autonomously assembled by a device that DARPA seeks to develop and operate via its NOM4D program.
- That's an impressive achievement, but it just scratches the surface of what DARPA wants to accomplish via a program it calls Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design, or NOM4D for short.
- Looking into the future, he is hopeful that robots will be able to build larger telescope mirrors for observatories to peer deeper into space, as well as more advanced structures for radio telescopes to listen for distant signals.
A robot just played Tinkertoys in space, assembling the first satellite structure ever made without a human touching the controls.
"This is the first time that a structure has been autonomously constructed in space," Sergio Pellegrino, an aerospace and civil engineering professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), said in a statement on Nov.
Additional details
- "This work could be useful not only for astronomy and astrophysics, but also for communications and other areas, such as building very large solar arrays for space solar power," said Pellegrino, who's team leader of the truss-building project, a Caltech demonstration mission called Autonomous In-Space Tensioned Reflector Assembly (ASTRA).
- NOM4D is also supporting a project from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, but that one will take place at the International Space Station, focusing on how to harden carbon tubes in orbit.
- Indeed, the ball is already rolling on such ambitious projects, generating enough hype for space startups around the globe to raise a record $20.8 billion in the third quarter of 2026 alone.
- Anything that launches aboard a rocket is limited by the size of that vehicle's fairing — the nose cone that protects payloads during their ride to space.
- "NOM4D's objective is to enable efficient, scalable construction of very large structures in space," NOM4D Program Manager Andrew Detor said in a Nov.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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