#361 Revisited: Space – The Robotic Age

#361 Revisited: Space – The Robotic Age

From Engineering Matters by Reby Media

February 26, 2026 · 28 min

About this episode

The episode revisits the role of robotic systems in space and their potential for future manufacturing industries.

Humanity’s furthest ever journey into space has been delayed. Again. An interruption to the flow of helium forced NASA to scrap the revised 6 March launch date of the Artemis II mission, and begin the slow process to roll the increasingly unfortunate rocket back to the vehicle assembly bay. While the delays are frustrating for the engineers involved, and space enthusiasts alike, every precaution has to be taken when a human crew is involved.  While we wait for this historic mission, we thought we would revisit an episode where we examined progress in robotic systems in space. The deployment of which removes the risk to human life and will be a critical part of the future of space operations. A future that Artemis 2 crew will spearhead. Space offers certain conditions that make it more favourable to manufacturing than Earth. Near zero gravity, extreme cold temperatures and a complete vacuum means certain industries such as quantum computing, semiconductors and human organ growth have already demonstrated the benefits of being manufactured in space. We explore how close we are to seeing manufacturing industries existing in space and what barriers there currently are. In this…

People in this episode

Guest: Mike Curtis-Rouse

Topics covered

  • space exploration
  • robotic systems
  • manufacturing in space
  • Artemis II
  • satellite technology

Keywords

  • space
  • robotics
  • manufacturing
  • Artemis II
  • NASA
  • satellite
  • quantum computing
  • semiconductors
  • human organ growth

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA, Satellite Applications Catapult

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