The autonomous robot Gitai installs a panel outside the International Space Station, showing orbital repairs in action

Based in Los Angeles Getai NASA said Tuesday that its autonomous robotic arm has performed a technology demonstration outside the International Space Station.

Gitai CEO Sho Nakanoze told TechCrunch In an interview last year The company aims to reduce labor costs in space by 100 times, in the same way that SpaceX and other providers have dramatically reduced launch costs. Autonomous robotic systems still have a long way to go before they make human labor obsolete, especially here on Earth; But in space, human labor is expensive (and dangerous), presenting an opportunity for a robotic alternative.

The 1.5-meter-long autonomous robotic arm, which the startup calls S2, was launched to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft in January. It was mounted externally on Nanoracks’ Bishop Airlock before completing a series of tasks that will all be necessary to build structures to live and work in space. This included mounting the task board, tightening and loosening small screws, handling flexible materials, and connecting and disconnecting a flexible electrical cable to the connector.

In the near term, the company is targeting in-orbit satellite service for spacecraft in low Earth orbit and geostationary orbit. Jitai is also developing robotic satellites capable of performing tasks related to this market, such as rendezvous, docking, inspection and deorbit, they said in a statement.

The eight-year-old startup plans to begin providing on-orbit service in 2026. The arm’s technology readiness level (TLR), the standard NASA uses to chart the maturity of a technology, is now at 7, the highest level, Jitai said. . The startup’s other product, a “worm-type” arm, is also featured in the TRL 7.