NASA entered into an agreement with Los Alamos-based Arkisys, California, to support and develop the Astrobee platform on the International Space Station (ISS). This Space Act Agreement will ensure the continued operation of the robotic system, which may become key for future space missions.
As the astronauts return to the moon, work, similar to Astrobee, can take on routine maintenance and support tasks for spacecraft on the Moon and Mars without constant human involvement. In March, after the announcement of the tender for partners, which will support space exploration, NASA selects Arkisys to power the Astrobee platform and enable partners to test new technologies in microgravity conditions on the ISS.
The Astrobee mission was launched on the ISS in 2018 year. Since then, three cubic works — “Bumble”, “Honey” and “Queen” — together with the software and the charging station have achieved some early successes. They cooperated with astronauts, performing monitoring of spacecraft, alert simulation and other tasks with researchers from industry and academia.
Source: https://www.spacedaily.com