Robotically Manipulated Payload ChallengeNASA has selected three teams as Phase 1 winners of the TechLeap Prize Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge to receive $200,000 each and advance to Phase 2:
- General Galactic Technologies Corporation — Theseus Experimental Project. Theseus is a modular refuellable propulsion demonstration project. The modular propulsion payload runs entirely on water and carries a replaceable tank rather than a fixed propellant load. This allows spacecraft to be refueled, extending missions with refueling or a tank swap instead of requiring a new vehicle. A robotic arm will manage the operation: transferring the modular unit from the delivery vehicle to the host spacecraft, orienting for thruster operations, and then swapping out the water tank when it is time to refuel.
- Falcon ExoDynamics — Stowable Mobile Inspection Kit for Close Inspection Operations. Falcon ExoDynamics’ stowable mobile inspection kit features its multi-spectral sensor. Mounted on a bracket designed for a robotic arm, the sensor includes multiple cameras and sensors to support inspection operations. Once deployed, the robotic arm will use the kit as a movable sensor package to inspect the host spacecraft, its solar arrays, and the departing delivery vehicle.
- SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. — PECAN: Power and Edge-Compute Augmentation Node. SpaceWorks’ PECAN is a roughly-12U module that carries power, compute, and fluid. A robotic arm will grapple PECAN from its delivery vehicle and berth it on the host FFR spacecraft’s deck using the FuseBlox interface, where a single mating plane connects mechanical, power, data, and fluid interfaces between the two spacecraft. With most spacecraft capabilities currently fixed at launch, PECAN is intended to demonstrate foundational interfaces that could scale to future in-space assembly, aggregation, and augmentation of large space systems, and to gather operational lessons that inform their development.
This past May, NASA’s Flight Opportunities program invited applicants to propose payloads that can be manipulated by a robotic arm in low Earth orbit. By demonstrating autonomous robotic manipulation, the challenge aims to advance persistent infrastructure for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing as part of NASA’s Fly Foundational Robots mission (FFR).
Phase 2 teams will now have three months to finalize their designs and begin building their payloads with the support of NASA subject matter experts. At the end of the phase, field judges will conduct site visits to evaluate each team’s progress, and winners will have the opportunity to receive an additional award of $200,000 each and advance to Phase 3. During Phase 3, winners will compete for an additional award of $100,000 each. NASA intends to offer each Phase 3 winner an opportunity for a flight test aboard a hosted orbital spacecraft at no cost.
Learn more about the winners.