NASA’s next generation of Moon crews will not step onto the regolith alone. Alongside the astronauts, compact robotic “droids” are being designed to float, roll, and walk through deep space habitats, taking on routine chores and risky jobs so humans can focus on exploration. The shift from hand tools to intelligent helpers is turning the science fiction image of a personal space robot into a practical piece of Artemis-era hardware.
Instead of treating robots as distant ground controllers’ toys, NASA is steadily moving toward systems that travel with the crew, learn their routines, and operate semi autonomously when humans are busy or away. That evolution is already visible in orbit and in the lab, and it is now aimed squarely at the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
From space station helpers to lunar sidekicks
The idea that every astronaut might have a robotic companion on future missions is rooted in decades of work on the International Space Station, where advanced robotic technologies have quietly become part of daily life. NASA’s own retrospective on 25 years of orbital operations describes how the station’s first robotic helpers were introduced as part of a broader push to prepare for a return to the Moon and eventual journeys to Mars, with advanced systems supporting NASA missions to the Moon and beyond. Those early tools were not glamorous, but they proved that robots could safely share tight quarters with humans and handle repetitive work without constant supervision.
That experience is now shaping how engineers think about robots that will travel with Artemis crews. The same design logic that made station robots safe, modular, and easy to control is being adapted for lunar environments where dust, radiation, and long communication delays complicate every task. The result is a new generation of droids that are not just experiments, but planned partners for astronauts who will live and work around the Moon for weeks at a time.
Astrobee and the rise of free-flying droids
The clearest preview of a personal space droid is Astrobee, a cube shaped robot that zips through the International Space Station on jets of air. Astrobee was built on the lessons of an earlier platform called SPHERES, and NASA’s own account of that evolution notes that the SPHERES robots, short for Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, paved the way for a more capable free flyer that could support future missions to Mars and beyond, a role now filled by NASA’s Astrobee and its SPHERES predecessors. Where SPHERES were essentially testbeds, Astrobee is a working assistant that can map the station, monitor equipment, and carry small payloads.
Astrobee’s design is deliberately modular, with a core unit that can accept different payloads and software packages depending on the experiment or task. Documentation on the system highlights that Astrobee’s modular design allows guest scientists to run their own code and that the same architecture is being considered for use on the Lunar Gateway during crew absences, turning the robot into a caretaker when humans are not around, a role described in detail in the Astrobee technical overview. In practical terms, that means the droid can be reconfigured as a flying camera, an inspector, or a mobile sensor platform, exactly the kind of flexibility that lunar missions will need when every kilogram of cargo has to justify its seat on the rocket.
Meet Honey, Bumble and Queen: a testbed for crew–robot teamwork
Astrobee is not a single robot but a trio, and their names hint at how familiar these machines are becoming to the astronauts who work with them. A detailed description of the system notes that there are three robots named Honey, Bumble and Queen, along with a docking station for recharging, and that tasks for Astrobee robots include everything from inventory checks to environmental monitoring aboard the International Space Station, as outlined in the Astrobee operations summary. The fact that astronauts refer to them by name, not serial number, is a small but telling sign of how these droids are being woven into crew culture.
For Artemis planners, Honey, Bumble and Queen are more than cute mascots. They are a live experiment in how humans interact with autonomous systems in confined, high risk environments. When a free flyer can be trusted to navigate around fragile equipment, dock itself for charging, and execute scripted tasks while the crew sleeps, it becomes much easier to imagine a similar robot floating through a lunar habitat, checking air filters or scanning for leaks while astronauts prepare for a Moonwalk.
Fly Foundational Robots and the leap to infrastructure work
While Astrobee focuses on interior tasks, NASA is also testing robots that can build and maintain infrastructure in orbit, a capability that will be essential for long term lunar operations. The Fly Foundational Robots mission, often shortened to The Fly Foundational Robots or FFR, is designed to demonstrate a robotic arm from small business Motiv Space Systems that can assemble and service hardware in space, with NASA describing how The Fly Foundational Robots, or FFR, will use a Motiv Space Systems arm to support astronauts during extended missions. Instead of relying solely on spacewalks, future crews could task such systems with routine assembly or repair jobs.NASA and its industry partners plan to fly and operate this commercial robotic arm in low Earth orbit through the Fly Foundational Robots program, with the explicit goal of maturing technologies that can later be used for building structures and working on other planets, a roadmap laid out in the agency’s description of how NASA and industry partners will operate the Fly Foundationa arm in Earth orbit before applying it to work on other planets. For lunar missions, that kind of capability could translate into robotic cranes that unload cargo, arms that assemble power towers, or manipulators that pre position science instruments before a crew even arrives.
Valkyrie and the case for humanoid Moon workers
Not every lunar droid will be a cube or an arm. NASA is also investing in humanoid robots that can operate tools and navigate environments designed for people, a strategy that could pay off in hazardous or hard to reach areas on the Moon. One of the most advanced examples is Valkyrie, a full size humanoid robot that has been described as a step toward humans living on the Moon and Mars, with reports noting that NASA has created a humanoid robot called Valkyrie to take on tasks that are too dangerous for humans in those environments, a role detailed in coverage of NASA’s Valkyrie work on the Moon and Mars. The idea is not to replace astronauts, but to give them a stand in that can operate in extreme conditions.
Another analysis of the program frames Valkyrie as Nasa’s Humanoid Robot Leading The Way To The Moon and Mars, emphasizing that the platform is meant to support everything from building habitats to exploring distant worlds, a vision captured in descriptions of Nasa’s Humanoid Robot Leading The Way To The Moon and Mars. For Artemis crews, a humanoid partner like Valkyrie could one day scout unstable terrain, handle heavy lifting in bulky suits, or perform emergency repairs in areas where a human spacewalk would be too risky or time consuming.
Mini rovers, canceled scouts and the search for lunar resources
Beyond the habitat walls, NASA is also experimenting with swarms of small rovers that can explore the lunar surface more flexibly than a single large vehicle. A recent Von Karman series talk from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, introduced by Nikki from JPL’s Communications and education team, outlines how a team of autonomous mini rovers could spread out to map terrain and test new navigation techniques, a concept presented in the Von Carman lecture hosted by Nikki from Communications. The approach mirrors trends in terrestrial robotics, where multiple small units can cover more ground and provide redundancy if one fails.
At the same time, NASA has had to make hard choices about which lunar robots to fund. In an overview of the VIPER mission, the agency explains that on July 17, 2024, NASA announced its intent to discontinue the VIPER mission due to overall Science Mission constraints, even though VIPER was designed to search for ice at the lunar poles, a decision documented in the mission’s Overview of NASA’s VIPER Science Mission. That cancellation underscores how tight budgets and shifting priorities can affect which droids actually make it to the Moon, even as the broader strategy leans more heavily on robotic scouts to find resources like water ice that will be critical for long term human presence.
Artemis, personal droids and the new Moon timeline
The push to give astronauts their own robotic companions is unfolding against the backdrop of the Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon. A detailed look at the upcoming Artemis II mission notes that the flight is part of a broader effort to send crews farther from Earth than previous missions have gone and to test systems that will eventually support longer stays on the lunar surface, a context laid out in coverage of how the Artemis flight is part of a program to build a sustained presence on the Moon. As those missions transition from test flights to long duration expeditions, the case for on board droids becomes stronger.That shift is already visible in how industry figures talk about the near future. In a recent post, space entrepreneur Justin Cyrus highlighted that NASA astronauts will have their own droid when they go back to the Moon, framing it as a natural extension of current robotics work and a sign that personal robotic assistants are moving from concept to mission requirement, a point he made in a LinkedIn note by Justin Cyrus about NASA astronauts and their Moon droid. While specific hardware for Artemis crews is still being finalized, the trajectory is clear: future Moonwalkers are expected to travel with robotic partners that can share the workload and extend their reach.
Autonomy as a mission requirement, not a luxury
Behind the hardware, NASA’s long term strategy is to make these droids increasingly autonomous so they can keep missions running smoothly even when humans are offline or communications are delayed. A broader look at the future of space exploration notes that in the future, NASA wants to implement this technology to create fully autonomous systems that can handle critical aspects of a mission, even during unforeseen situations, a goal described in an analysis of how In the future, NASA aims for autonomous systems that can manage missions during unforeseen situations. For lunar operations, that could mean robots that reroute power, seal minor leaks, or reposition antennas without waiting for a command from Earth.The experience with Astrobee on the space station shows how autonomy can be introduced gradually. A feature on free flying robots in orbit recalls how five years ago, on a space station not so far away, a trio of cube shaped robots embarked on a multi year mission to help astronauts by buzzing around the space station, a narrative captured in an account of Five years of Astrobee free flying robots buzzing around the station. As their software has matured, they have taken on more complex tasks with less direct supervision, offering a template for how lunar droids might evolve from teleoperated tools to trusted teammates that can make decisions on their own.
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