A Caltech robot has autonomously assembled part of a truss structure in low Earth orbit, the first time a structure has been built in space without astronauts.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
A robot developed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has autonomously assembled part of a structure in space for the first time, according to ScienceDaily.
The robotic system, called the Autonomous In-Space Tensioned Reflector Assembly (ASTRA), was developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of its Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program.
The robot uses an automated arm to retrieve structural tubes and connecting joints from nearby storage dispensers and joins them into repeating sections called bays, which form a larger supporting framework known as a truss.
"This is the first time that a structure has been autonomously constructed in space," says Sergio Pellegrino, a professor at Caltech and senior research scientist at JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA.
ASTRA launched on March 30, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Transporter-16 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It traveled on Momentus Inc.'s Vigoride 7 orbital vehicle, which carried 10 separate payloads into low Earth orbit.
The system deployed two previously assembled truss bays and then constructed a third bay using its onboard assembly system. The full antenna design calls for 11 connected bays, but technical difficulties and scheduling constraints prevented the team from completing the entire structure.
Three team members managed construction commands from Earth: Charles Sommer, a former Caltech systems engineer; Alan Truong, a Caltech research engineer; and graduate student Tara Venkatadri (MS '24). The team could contact ASTRA only during approximately seven or eight brief periods each day, with each opportunity lasting about 15 minutes.
DARPA's objective is to enable efficient, scalable construction of very large structures in space, according to Andrew Detor, DARPA program manager for NOM4D. "By 'very large,' I mean hundreds of meters or kilometers in scale. Nothing approaching that scale can be achieved today," Detor said in a written statement.
Such structures could support enormous telescopes, communications antennas, and solar power stations in orbit.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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