BY ANDY TOMASWICK

NASA has started engaging with commercial partners are some out-there projects. One of the most recent is a six year, $57.2 million deal with ICON, a company based in Austin, Texas that specializes in in-situ resource utilization 3D printing technologies. 

With its recent step forward with the Artemis program, NASA hopes to return to the Moon in this decade and stay there. If astronauts do that, they will need infrastructure, including places to land, drive, and live. 

One of the best ways to create those places will be by utilizing resources that are already on the Moon, rather than shipping them directly, and expensively, from Earth. And ICON has proven itself to be one of the world’s most capable organizations at doing just that. Their 3D printing infrastructure system, known as Olympus, is useful for more than just making things out of regolith. 

Norwegian company SINTEF is developing a new 3D robot that explores the surface of planets and identifies space junk.

Originally, the camera was designed to roam the surface of Mars through a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia. However, following the war in Ukraine, this project has been abandoned and SINTEF is looking to target regions closer to Earth.

“Mars is still an interesting target for us,” said SINTEF’s Jostein Thorstensen. “But right now, it all seems a little far away, so we’re looking at other opportunities. Servicing satellites and the removal of space junk have emerged as very interesting areas.”

There are thousands of satellites and many of them require servicing and repairs in order to extend their lifetimes. Increasing amounts of space junk are also becoming a major problem, with thousands of decommissioned satellites still in orbit around Earth.

3D animation showing the Hubble Space Telescope over the Earth.

A New Walking Robot Design.

Researchers have created a cutting-edge walking robot that might revolutionize large space construction projects. They tested the feasibility of the robot for the in-space assembly of a 25m Large Aperture Space Telescope. Their findings were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI. Furthermore, a scaled-down version of the robot has shown potential for large-scale construction applications on Earth.

Maintenance and maintenance of massive structures are particularly important in space, where the circumstances are harsh and human technology has a limited lifetime. Robotics, autonomous systems, and extravehicular activities have all proven helpful for servicing and maintenance missions and have assisted the space community in conducting innovative research on a variety of space missions. Robotics and autonomous systems advancements provide a wide range of in-space services. This includes, but is not limited to, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, astronomy, earth observation, and debris removal.

Due to the many hazards involved, relying just on human builders is insufficient, and current technologies are outdated.

“We need to introduce sustainable, futuristic technology to support the current and growing orbital ecosystem,” explained corresponding author Manu Nair, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Lincoln.

“As the scale of space missions grows, there is a need for more extensive infrastructures in orbit. Assembly missions in space would hold one of the key responsibilities in meeting the increasing demand.”