Space Robotics

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Overview

Space robotics studies machines that operate in orbit, inside spacecraft, and on planetary surfaces, where gravity, terrain, communication delays, and repair opportunities differ from those on Earth. Work includes free-flying robots and manipulators for inspection, capture, and assembly, as well as rovers and legged robots for navigation, sampling, and resource use. Common approaches combine perception and mapping with model-based planning and control, reinforcement learning, and simulation, with evaluation in spacecraft emulators, hardware testbeds, and planetary analogues. A central challenge is transferring reliable, safe autonomy from simulation to hardware while accounting for uncertain environments, limited onboard resources, and delayed communication.

Latest papers

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71 papers20 papers in the last four weeks, up 33% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. State estimation for a hybrid rigid-continuum space manipulator system

    Oct 27, 2026Lorenzo Ticozzi, Patricio A. Vela, Panagiotis TsiotrasRobot State EstimationSpace Robotics

    School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology · School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

  2. VPR-Space: A Benchmark for Visual Place Recognition in Space Analog Domains

    Oct 26, 2026Richard Fechner, Peer NeubertVisual Place RecognitionSpace Robotics

    Institute for Computational Visualistics, University of Koblenz

  3. PPO vs. SAC: A Comparative Study for Cooperative Motion Control of Dual-Arm Space Robots

    Oct 23, 2026Nasim Fallahiarezoodar, Zheng H. ZhuSpace RoboticsBimanual Robotic Manipulation

    Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, M3J1P3 · Mechanical Engineering, York University, M3J1P3

  4. Emergent Cooperative Thermoregulation in Lunar Swarm Robotics

    Oct 22, 2026Anais Jeger, Harry Holt, Lennart PuckSwarm RoboticsSpace Robotics

    Center for Bits and Atoms, MIT · Advanced Concepts Team, ESA · Planetary Robotics Laboratory, ESA

  5. AstroBench: Benchmarking Free-Floating Capture and Space Robotic Manipulation

    Oct 22, 2026Zizhe Wang, Jia Deng, Xin Lu +3Space RoboticsRobot Manipulation Benchmarks

    Astroup Lab, Beijing, China · Harbin Institute of Technology, Beijing Research Institute

  6. MARE: An Open-Source Lunar Rover Simulator with Shadow Ground Truth for Perception and Autonomy

    Oct 20, 2026Raúl Castilla-Arquillo, Miguel Olivares-MendezRobotics SimulationPlanetary Rover Robotics

    Space Robotics (SpaceR) Research Group, SnT, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

  7. Design and implementation of thermal control strategy for micro-size lunar exploration rover hakuto

    Oct 20, 2026Toshiki Tanaka, Takuto Oikawa, Keeni Shruti +3Space Robotics

  8. Towards Interaction State Recognition in Sensorized Gecko-Inspired Adhesive Interfaces for Orbital Servicing

    Oct 19, 2026Eduart Abdullahu, Francesco Grella, Carol MartinezSpace RoboticsRobotic Tactile Sensing

    Space Robotics Research Group (SpaceR), Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), University of Luxembourg

  9. Foundation Models for Autonomous Space Robotics: Architectures, Physical Adaptation, and Validation

    Oct 16, 2026Zizhe Wang, Jia Deng, Xin Lu +4Space RoboticsRobot Foundation Models

    Astroup Lab, Beijing, China · Harbin Institute of Technology, Beijing Research Institute · Peking University

  10. Safe and Fuel-Efficient Motion Planning for Lunar Propulsive Drones

    Oct 15, 2026Elena Wittemyer, Graco GaoMotion PlanningSafe Motion Planning

    Stanford University, William F. Durand Building, 496 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305

  11. De-Risking Robotic Welding for In-Space Metal Joining Through Physics-Grounded Digital Twins

    Oct 15, 2026Zhou Daniel Hao, Umer Masood Chaudry, Robert Shaw +4Digital TwinsSpace Robotics

    DANiLab, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom · School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom · TWI Ltd, United Kingdom +1

  12. HyperLoop: Hyperspectral-Assisted Loop Closure Detection in 3D-SLAM for Planetary Exploration

    Oct 14, 2026Annie Bhalla, Dennis Rotondi, Riccardo Giubilato +2Loop Closure DetectionSpace Robotics

    Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI), University of Stuttgart, Universitätsstraße 32, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany. · German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.

  13. End-to-End Vision-Language-Action Policies for Autonomous Lunar Rover Docking

    Oct 13, 2026Sitan Huang, Grace GaoSpace RoboticsVisuomotor Policy Learning

    Stanford University, William F. Durand Building, 496 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305

  14. Phase-Gated Constrained Reinforcement Learning for End-to-End Capture and Detumbling of Non-Cooperative Targets

    Oct 11, 2026Álvaro Belmonte-Baeza, Celia Redondo-Verdú, José L. Ramón +3Space RoboticsConstrained RL

    Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Alicante, Spain. · Department of Physics, Systems Engineering and Signal Theory, University of Alicante, Spain. · Centre for Space Systems, Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK.

  15. Toward Evidence-Driven Human-Agent-Robot Teaming for Earth-Independent Anomaly Triage

    Oct 6, 2026Ignacio G Lopez-Francos, Alexis Gallagher, Samira ShalalHuman-Robot CollaborationSpace Robotics

    NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA · SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA · The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA +2

  16. Who Went Where When on the Lunar Surface: Forensic Trajectory Analysis to Identify Byzantine Rovers

    Oct 2, 2026Lachlan Holden, Feras Dayoub, Melissa de Zwart +2Trajectory InferenceRobot State Estimation

    AI for Space Group · Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, Adelaide University, Australia.

  17. Path-Following Control and Terramechanics Analysis for Planetary Rovers Under Wheel-to-Wheel Traction Asymmetry

    Sep 30, 2026Ryuya Matsuoka, Keisuke Takehana, Kentaro Uno +2Robot Trajectory TrackingSpace Robotics

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan · Research Center for Green X-Tech, Green Goals Initiative, Tohoku University · Research Center for Space Cross-Tech, Green Goals Initiative, Tohoku University

  18. Terrain-Aware Autonomous Planetary Exploration for Exteroceptive-Proprioceptive Mapping with Quadruped Scouts

    Sep 28, 2026Alberto Sanchez-Delgado, João Carlos Virgolino Soares, Victor Barasuol +1Off-Road Robot NavigationSpace Robotics

    Dynamic Legged Systems lab (DLS), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genoa, Italy

  19. Graph-Based Simultaneous Path and Foothold Planning for Multi-Limbed Intra-Vehicular Robots in Space Stations

    Sep 28, 2026Masazumi Imai, Kentaro Uno, Toshinori Kuwahara +1Space RoboticsRobot Locomotion

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan · New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHe), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan · Research Center for Green X-Tech and Research Center for Space Cross-Tech, Green Goals Initiative, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

  20. Simulation for Planetary Robotic Perception and Autonomy: A Concise Survey of Recent Capabilities and Gaps

    Sep 28, 2026Hoyun Kim, Giseop KimSpace RoboticsRobotics Simulation

    Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, DGIST, Daegu, Republic of Korea

  21. MarsLab: A Martian Rover Simulator for Planetary Rover Autonomous Navigation

    Sep 28, 2026Hoyun Kim, Beomsu Kim, Giseop KimSimultaneous Localization and MappingOff-Road Robot Navigation

    Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, DGIST, Daegu, Republic of Korea

  22. Robot-Assisted Deployment and Maintenance of Inflatable Modules for Lunar Habitation: A Field Demonstration

    Sep 28, 2026Kentaro Uno, Shamistan Karimov, Ashutosh Mishra +5Robotic ConstructionModular Robotics

    Space Robotics Lab. (SRL) in Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan · Department of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Noda 278-8510, Japan

  23. Efficient Bezier Velocity Optimization for Free-Floating Space Manipulators

    Sep 25, 2026Duo Zhang, Zhizhuo Zhang, Xiaoli Bai +1Robot Motion PlanningSpace Robotics

    Department of Computer Science, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA · Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA

  24. Markerless Multi-Modal Autonomous Robotic Inspection of Large Space Structures

    Sep 24, 2026Juan De Dios Alfaro, Arturo Ríos, David Rodríguez-Martínez +1Robotic InspectionSpace Robotics

    Space Robotics Laboratory, University Institute for Research in Mechatronics and Cyber-Physical Systems, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain.

  25. Control Barrier Functions for Safe Free-Flying Robotic Spacecraft Operations in Tumbling Target Capture

    Sep 22, 2026Alexander Meinert, Peter Stadler, Niklas Baldauf +1Space RoboticsSafety-Critical Control

    Space Applications Group, e:fs TechHub GmbH, Gaimersheim, Germany · Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences, Germany

  26. Designing an Efficient Excavator Bucket for Lunar ISRU: A Comparative Study with Vision-Based Fill and Displacement Analysis

    Sep 22, 2026Abdulla Hil Kafi, Tomoki Koshi, Jorge Casir +1Space RoboticsRobotic Excavation

    Department of Mechanical and control Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu 804-8550, Japan

  27. A Deployable Four-Finger Payload for Teleoperated Free-Flying Manipulation with Astrobee

    Sep 22, 2026William Su, Jordan Kam, Yunosuke Nakamura +3Space RoboticsRobot Teleoperation

    Aerospace Engineering Program, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA · Department of Aerospace Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA · Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA +1

  28. Learning to Drive on Mars: Visual Multimodal Traversability Estimation for Off-World Navigation

    Sep 21, 2026Darren Chiu, Cole Wilson, Andrei Tumbar +2Off-Road Robot NavigationSpace Robotics

    University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. · Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. · Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

  29. Multi-Agent Transportation of Free-Flyers in Microgravity Via Pushing Interaction Under Human-in-the-Loop Control

    Sep 21, 2026Gregorio Marchesini, Nicola De Carli, Sihyun Cho +5Space RoboticsMulti-Robot Coordination

    KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden · Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

  30. PINGU: Extending Air-Bearing Spacecraft Emulators with Open-Source Actuators and Learned Control for Contact-Rich Proximity Operations

    Sep 20, 2026Ricard Marsal I Castan, Akiyoshi Uchida, Aman Arora +7Space RoboticsContact-Rich Robotic Manipulation

    University of Luxembourg · Tohoku University · Georgia Institute of Technology