Document Type

Report

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Abstract

As humanity looks to expand its reach into space, there is an increasing need for large space structures. The existence of these structures would enable large-scale infrastructure for further exploration and long-term habitation of humans beyond earth. However, creating such large structures in space is extremely challenging. Extreme environmental conditions (temperature, vacuum, microgravity) make construction and material handling difficult. Manual construction is dangerous and expensive; it is unrealistic for astronauts to complete this work. The “SkyForge” project, inspired by “Skyworker” (2003), attempts to make large space structure construction possible. SkyForge is envisioned as a fully autonomous construction robot designed for the conditions in space. The robot is designed with three arms and can “walk” along the structures that it creates, carrying the materials needed to extend them. When it reaches a point at 3 the end of the structure and is ready to work on further assembly, one arm anchors the robot in place. Then, the other two arms use the carried materials to complete the construction work.

Notes

Course: ENP 495, Engineering Senior Capstone III (Dr. Peter Staritz)

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