Picture credit score: Kall Morris Inc (KMI)
A robotic system outfitted with mechanical tentacles has been examined onboard the Worldwide Area Station.
Referred to as REACCH, this method can rigorously clutch and transfer objects in area, even objects not designed to be embraced.
Kall Morris Inc (KMI), an area logistics firm, is headquartered in Marquette, Michigan and has accomplished the primary business demonstrations of REACCH on the ISS.
Seize cycles
Launched aboard SpaceX CRS-31 on November 4, 2024, REACCH spent over eight months throughout the ISS the place it was operated in six separate take a look at classes by astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, and Takuya Onishi.
Following 172 seize cycles aboard the ISS, REACCH was returned to Earth aboard the SpaceX CRS-32 Dragon capsule on Could 25, 2025.
Operated by the Astrobee payload, REACCH grew to become the biggest ever Astrobee payload by each mass and quantity. Moreover, KMI grew to become the primary business entity to seize an unprepared object in area and have become the primary non-public firm to seize objects repeatedly in area.
REACCH patent and digital mockup of Astrobee with REACCH throughout ISS experiment.
Picture credit score: Kall Morris Inc (KMI)
KMI is reviewing what was discovered in flexing the REACCH tentacles and is constant know-how iteration, embarking upon the following stage of growth.
A full-scale, commercial-ready flight demonstration is deliberate for the primary quarter of 2028, utilizing classes discovered from the ISS marketing campaign.
Lengthy and in need of it
REACCH is brief for Reactive Electro-Adhesive Seize ClotH. “The brief identify is a play on the robotic ‘octopus tentacles’ that fairly actually ‘attain’ for satellites and different area objects,” stated Gabby Muehlenbeck, KMI’s design and communications coordinator.
“The lengthy identify references the electro-adhesion and Gecko adhesion seize fabric materials that’s hosted on the robotic tentacles of REACCH,” Muehlenbeck instructed Inside Outer Area.
Picture credit score: Kall Morris Inc (KMI)
Making use of its bio-inspired tentacle arms, REACCH is designed to supply satellite tv for pc operators an in-space functionality to securely transfer objects of practically any form, measurement, or floor with out harm or leaving residue.
REACCH helps KMI’s Relocation as a Service (RaaS), an progressive strategy for business, nationwide safety, or scientific satellite tv for pc repositioning, restore, or retiring spacecraft.
The outcomes of this demonstration will additional allow REACCH for its crucial mission of orbital particles assortment.
“The success of those checks showcase the immense functionality of the REACCH system and most notably advance the state-of-the-art of microgravity seize of uncontrolled objects,” stated Austin Morris, KMI co-founder and director of engineering in an organization assertion.
