T-Minus, the Only Daily Space Intelligence Podcast | N2K Space

Autonomous robotics in space.

Written by Maria Varmazis | Sep 27, 2025 6:00:01 AM

Summary

A US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) research team successfully conducted the first reinforcement learning (RL) control of a free-flyer in space in May. We spoke with NRL Space Roboticist Samantha Chapin, Ph.D., and NRL Computer Research Scientist Kenneth Stewart, Ph.D about the demonstration and the future of autonomous robotics in space.

You can read more about the demonstration on the NRL website.

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