"Today it's a robotic arm demonstration, but one day these same technologies could be assembling solar arrays, refueling satellites, constructing lunar habitats, or manufacturing products that benefit life on Earth," said Bo Naasz, senior technical lead for In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) in the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This is how we build a dominant space economy and sustained human presence on the Moon and Mars."

The Fly Foundational Robots payload will ride on an Astro Digital spacecraft and carry a robotic arm from Motiv Space Systems that can manipulate tools, handle objects with dexterity, and move itself hand over hand along spacecraft structures in zero or partial gravity. The mission will examine how such systems could repair and refuel spacecraft, assemble habitats and power or communications infrastructure, and help maintain life support systems on the Moon and Mars while also serving as assistants to astronauts on long missions.

Advances from Fly Foundational Robots are also expected to feed back into ground based robotics and automation in areas such as construction, medical procedures, and transportation. To place Motiv's arm in orbit, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is using a hosted flight test arrangement with Astro Digital through the agency's Flight Opportunities program.

Guest roboticists will be able to operate on the Fly Foundational Robots platform, using the Motiv arm as an in orbit testbed for their own procedures and tools. NASA will be the first guest operator and is seeking additional U.S. partners who want to run experiments on the system.

The mission is part of NASA's effort to validate robotic operations in space before moving to more complex servicing and refueling campaigns. Demonstrating Motiv's arm in orbit through Fly Foundational Robots is intended to open the way to a broader range of in space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing activities.

NASA's Fly Foundational Robots demonstration is funded through the Space Technology Mission Directorate's ISAM portfolio and managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Motiv Space Systems of Pasadena, California, is providing the robotic arm system through a NASA Small Business Innovation Research Phase III award, and Astro Digital of Littleton, Colorado, will conduct the orbital flight test of the payload through the Flight Opportunities program managed at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

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In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing at NASA
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