DARPA says its NOM4D programme has carried out the first automated assembly of a structure in space. A Caltech payload riding on Momentus’s Vigoride-7 vehicle, launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-16 at the end of March, used a simple gantry robot moving along three straight axes to join composite truss members with custom joints, one bay at a time, while unrolling a thin reflective mesh — the basic recipe for a large antenna. DARPA went from idea to a working prototype in orbit in 15 months; the long-term goal is structures hundreds of metres or even kilometres across, too big to launch folded. A University of Illinois team will next test a resin for making strong composites on the space station. Caveat: DARPA did not give the size of the demo structure; this was a proof of concept, not a working antenna.
1stautomated assembly of a structure in orbit (DARPA)
3straight axes the gantry robot moves on
15 monthsfrom idea to working prototype in orbit