A robot has built part of a structure in orbit without any help from astronauts, the first time a structure has been assembled autonomously in space.
The builder, called ASTRA, was designed by researchers at Caltech and funded by DARPA, the Pentagon’s research agency. It spent six months in low Earth orbit and put together a section of a reflector antenna from composite tubes, aluminium joints and a reflective film.
ASTRA launched on 30 March 2026 aboard a SpaceX mission, riding on a Momentus orbital vehicle. Its job was to build a 1.4-metre antenna bay by bay, picking struts and joints from dispensers and fitting them together.
The team said time ran short and the full 11-bay antenna is unlikely to be finished before the mission ends in December. The demonstration still proved the idea works, and the team says it points the way to telescopes and antennas too large to launch whole.
Source: Caltech
