NASA is continuing the Astrobee mission through a collaboration with Arkisys, of Los Alamitos, California, which 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. [Read more…] about NASA partners with Arkisys to advance Astrobee robots on the ISS