AstroForge puts in‑house transformer model in command of 2027 spacecraft
The company said its model, Solo, will handle anomalies and subsystems on Autonomy-1, a NASA-backed probe it plans to fly without a receiving radio.
AstroForge plans to put a small transformer-based model in charge of its next spacecraft, the company told TechCrunch. The model, called Solo, was built in-house and is meant to resolve anomalies and manage spacecraft subsystems on Autonomy-1, a NASA-backed probe the company expects to launch in 2027.
Solo will manage power generation and navigation, along with its star tracker systems, and draws on data from about 2,500 sensors, according to TechCrunch. The capability claim is AstroForge's own, and the model has not yet flown. Autonomy-1 is due to launch on the first flight of Stoke Space's rocket.
The company has lost spacecraft before. AstroForge lost communication control of its Odin probe after launching it into deep space in 2025, and limited ground antenna access prevented a recovery, TechCrunch reported. Two earlier prototype spacecraft suffered anomalies that stopped them completing their missions.
Chief executive Matthew Gialich framed the model as an alternative to ground infrastructure. "Do I go build my own ground network... for $200 million... or do I try to remove it with a model?" he told TechCrunch. He said he does not plan to fly radios that can receive from Earth on Autonomy-1.
AstroForge has raised $56 million in venture backing since it was founded in 2022, according to TechCrunch. A third vehicle, DeepSpace-2, is due to launch with an Intuitive Machines moon mission by the end of 2026, the report said.