Space Robotics Workshop

Space Exploration and Sustained Operations Beyond Earth

Robotic systems are becoming central to the next decade of space activity: NASA's Artemis lunar campaign and broader Moon-to-Mars architecture; the growing roles of ESA, JAXA, and other agencies in lunar exploration infrastructure; and expanding commercial capabilities beyond Earth orbit all demand higher levels of autonomy, adaptability, and human-robot teaming. In parallel, terrestrial robotics is advancing rapidly through an explosion in AI capabilities, cheaper and better sensors and compute, and improved sim-to-real transfer — creating a timely opportunity to translate these advances into more capable and robust space robotic systems.

This workshop convenes the space robotics and terrestrial robotics communities around the challenges and opportunities that most directly impact exploration and sustained operations beyond Earth. It focuses on robotic systems that support lunar and planetary missions, astronaut assistance, surface infrastructure, logistics, and other mission-enabling capabilities in extreme environments.

Compared to prior space robotics events, this workshop is framed around the broader challenge of enabling exploration and sustained operations beyond Earth, rather than a single domain or technical area. It brings together multiple domains under one umbrella, with an applied emphasis on mission use, integration constraints, and validation.

SETI Institute affiliate Ignacio G. López-Francos is a member of the organizing committee and will deliver opening remarks.

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