Asteroid mining startup AstroForge plans to put its in-house AI system in control of a spacecraft in 2027, reducing its dependence on commands from flight controllers on Earth. The company developed the transformer-based system, called Solo, after communication problems prevented it from regaining control of an earlier spacecraft.
The planned Autonomy-1 mission will fly on the first rocket launched by Stoke Space and carry a NASA-backed heliophysics payload that will collect data about the sun. AstroForge says in its Autonomy-1 announcement that the spacecraft is intended to operate after separation without receiving commands from the ground.
Solo Is Designed to Handle Problems Onboard
Space missions typically combine automation with teams of controllers on Earth. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission, for example, used about 100 operators on each eight-hour shift, while most spacecraft autonomy still relies on traditional control algorithms because neural networks can behave unpredictably.
The first reported use of a neural network to control a satellite’s orbital positioning occurred in 2025, according to a research paper. AstroForge’s approach combines conventional control algorithms, models trained on test data for individual systems such as navigation and power, and an intelligence layer that processes information from about 2,500 spacecraft sensors.
AstroForge was founded in 2022 and has raised $56 million in venture funding. Its first two prototype spacecraft encountered anomalies that prevented them from completing most of their planned objectives.
Its Odin spacecraft reached deep space in 2025, but AstroForge struggled to communicate with it because suitable ground antennas are limited and communication windows are short. CEO Matthew Gialich said building a five-dish global ground network could cost around $200 million, prompting the company to consider whether more onboard autonomy could reduce that dependence.
Solo is designed to diagnose and respond to problems itself. Head of flight software Armand Awad said it could, for example, connect a navigation problem with an issue affecting a star tracker and attempt to correct it onboard.
DeepSpace-2 Will Test Solo Before Autonomy-1
Solo will first fly in “shadow mode” aboard DeepSpace-2, AstroForge’s third spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch alongside Intuitive Machines’ third lunar mission by the end of 2026. The system will process real spacecraft data without controlling the vehicle, allowing engineers to compare its decisions with actual flight operations.
Autonomy-1 is then scheduled to launch aboard Stoke Space’s first Nova Pathfinder flight in early 2027. Stoke Space says the spacecraft will operate its mission without ground commands while supporting NASA Goddard’s COMPASS heliophysics payload.
Gialich said he currently does not plan to equip Autonomy-1 with radios capable of receiving commands from Earth, although he acknowledged that could change before launch. The spacecraft would still transmit telemetry and scientific data back to Earth.
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
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