Capabilities
Are there robots in space?
Yes, and the useful part of the answer is which ones are still working.
Rovers are driving on Mars, free-flying robots are working inside the International Space Station, servicing craft are docking to satellites in geostationary orbit, and capsules are manufacturing on orbit and flying themselves home. DEPLOY holds each as a deployment record with its own status and its own sources. Most of the record is missions that have finished, which is why this page separates what is operating from what has ended, and keeps announced missions that have not flown out of both.
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Yes. The question is really three questions, and the record answers them separately.
What is operating now: rovers on the Martian surface, free-flying camera and assistant robots inside the International Space Station, a life-extension servicer docked to a satellite in geostationary orbit, and autonomous cargo and crew spacecraft flying themselves to their stations. These are the rows the registry currently marks operational.
What has finished: most of the record. Commercial lunar landers, debris-removal demonstrators, orbital transfer vehicles and in-space manufacturing capsules have flown and completed their missions. One caution matters here: the registry's status for these is simply ended, and ended does not distinguish a mission that succeeded from a lander that arrived badly. DEPLOY renders the record's own word rather than inventing an outcome it does not hold.
What has only been announced: a small set of missions with no flight and, on several rows, no date at all. They are listed apart from everything else and are counted in no operating total. An announcement is not a robot in space.
One scoping note the record makes necessary. The registry's space class spans more than rovers: it includes free-flying robots, satellite servicers, and spacecraft that perform autonomous rendezvous and docking, some of which carry crew. Rather than characterise each machine, this page prints the model record's own description of itself so you can see exactly what kind of machine each row is.
What the record holds
Counted from the registry rather than asserted. Each entry is one machine at one destination; where a machine flew more than once, its records are held together rather than counted as separate robots.
- Operating
- 21
- Ended
- 17
- Announced only
- 10
48 entries, drawn from 69 reviewed deployment records across 42 machines and 34 makers at 6 destinations. The registry holds 69 reviewed models in its space class; 42 of them carry a reviewed deployment, so the rest are recorded machines with no flight on the record.
Three different claims, kept apart
Each column is attributed to what it actually describes. The third is the claim DEPLOY refuses to make.
Machines at named places off Earth
Every row is a physical machine recorded at a destination: the Martian surface, the lunar surface, inside the International Space Station, or in Earth or geostationary orbit. Each carries its own status and its own sources, read live at page load.
Whether a finished mission succeeded
The registry marks a concluded deployment ended, and that single word covers a mission that met its objectives and a lander that arrived badly alike. DEPLOY renders the word the record holds rather than inventing an outcome, so the specific outcome of any one mission is a question for that row's sources.
That this is every robot in space
These are the deployments the registry documents, not a census of everything flying. A machine absent from this page is one the record does not hold, which is not a finding that it does not exist. Counts here are deployment records, never missions flown.
Where they are
Destinations are grouped from each deployment’s own location record.
| Mars | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| The Moon | 1 | 11 | 0 | 12 |
| The International Space Station | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Low Earth orbit | 7 | 8 | 2 | 17 |
| Geostationary orbit | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Elsewhere on the record | 18 | 0 | 6 | 24 |
Operating on the record
What the registry currently marks operational, newest first. Each machine is described in its own model record’s words rather than characterised here.
- DROID: Elsewhere on the record
Maneuverable autonomous satellite platform for space domain awareness, non-Earth imaging, and orbital debris tracking. Maker on the record: Turion Space.
- Prism Phased Array Antenna: Elsewhere on the record
Ultra-wideband phased array ground antenna for satellite communications. Maker on the record: Northwood Space. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Operating on the recordJan 1, 2025 (as reported) to Jun 23, 2026 (as reported) - spacevan: Elsewhere on the record
Exotrail's spacevan is an autonomous orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) providing last-mile delivery, in-orbit demonstration, and payload hosting services for small satellites. Maker on the record: Exotrail. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Missions the record marks ended
Ended is the registry’s own word, and it does not separate a completed mission from one that failed on arrival. Follow a row’s sources for the outcome of that specific flight.
Commercial lunar lander with autonomous descent guidance (ispace Series 1).. Maker on the record: ispace. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Ended, outcome not classifiedApr 25, 2023 (as reported) to Jun 5, 2025 (as reported)ispaceAutonomous in-space pharmaceutical-manufacturing capsule that processes material on orbit and performs an autonomous hypersonic reentry and landing. Maker on the record: Varda Space Industries. 3 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Ended, outcome not classifiedFeb 21, 2024 (as reported) to May 13, 2025 (as reported)Commercial lunar lander using terrain-relative navigation cameras, a laser range finder and NASA's Navigation Doppler Lidar for autonomous hazard-relative descent. Maker on the record: Intuitive Machines. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Ended, outcome not classifiedFeb 22, 2024 (as reported) to Mar 6, 2025 (as reported)
Announced, with no flight on the record
Kept out of every count above deliberately. These carry no start date on the record, and an announced mission is not a robot in space.
- DeepSky Weather Satellite Constellation: Elsewhere on the record
Proliferated LEO constellation of multi-sensor satellites for AI-native weather intelligence. Maker on the record: Tomorrow.io.
Announced, no flight on the recordFeb 3, 2026 (as reported) Maneuverable autonomous satellite platform for space domain awareness, non-Earth imaging, and orbital debris tracking. Maker on the record: Turion Space.
- Gravitas Satellite Platform: Elsewhere on the record
Large, high-power satellite bus designed for the heavy-lift launch era. Maker on the record: K2 Space. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Announced, no flight on the recordJun 1, 2025 (as reported) to Mar 24, 2026 (as reported)
How we know this
Every machine on this page is a deployment record on the DEPLOY registry, read live at page load, with its own destination, its own dated start and its own sources. The split between operating, ended and announced comes from each record's own status rather than from editorial judgement, and each machine is described in its own model record's words rather than characterised here. Here are the sources behind them.
A row whose only source is Wikipedia never renders as verified on DEPLOY, whatever its review status: the house bar is a primary source or two independent strong-press reports. Announced missions are shown separately and counted in no operating total, because an announcement is not a robot in space.
Common questions
Are there robots on Mars right now?
What robots are on the International Space Station?
How many robots are in space?
Did all these missions succeed?
Are space robots really robots?
Which countries have robots in space?
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