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The Year in Space News – A Review

Over the past year, a number of exciting things have happened in space exploration. Motiv Space Exploration looks back at the year, from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returning a sample from an asteroid to the science…

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Distributed Mini-Moon Rovers

Distributed Mini-Moon Rovers

JPL’s CADRE mission will demonstrate the use of an autonomous trio of rovers on the lunar surface. Motiv developed the mission operation and robotic hardware components. Each rover will operate without human control to map…

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First Space Debris Fine Issued

First Space Debris Fine Issued

In a world first, the FCC has issued a fine against a satellite operator for failing to properly dispose of a spacecraft. To address space debris, robotic technology developed by Motiv can relocate or service…

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2020 Mars Perseverance Rover render with drill bits on extended arm

What it Takes to be a NASA Contractor

As NASA wound down the Space Shuttle Program and began to ramp up its Artemis Program while continuing to service the International Space Station, the space agency began to look to commercial companies to provide…

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Motiv NASA JPL COLDArm

NASA JPL Begins Testing COLDArm

As NASA continues to prepare for long-term exploration of the lunar south pole with its Artemis Program, tests of the advanced robotic systems that will be needed are beginning.

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The Case for Distributed Space Robotics

With NASA’s announcement of funding for swimming robotic swarms to explore oceans on other solar system bodies, the importance of distributed space robots has become more apparent. As reported, the $600,000 in funding will seek…

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Mars rocks photo

13 Down. 25 To Go.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has successfully completed over a year and half exploring the Martian surface. A big part of the mission is the collection of samples.

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Mars rover inspecting the soil on Mars

Take A Trip To Mars

Have you ever thought about exploring beyond the Earth? Mankind has explored our planet for tens of thousands of years – it is in our very nature to be explorers.

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NASA’s SLS Launch

As NASA continues its plans to return humans to the Moon, the space agency recently went through the final preparations for the inaugural launch of their Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

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A Space Station For All

Earlier this year, both NASA and the Chinese equivalent (CMSA) announced that they would be opening their respective space stations up for commercial use. The International Space Station (ISS), which is actively managed by NASA,…

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Updates From Perseverance

As NASA’s Perseverance rover approaches its 500th Sol on Mars, it continues to return images and science data. To-date, nearly 300,000 images have been returned for analysis by scientists and engineers working with JPL. Those…

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NASA’s Plans for 2023

The White House’s request for NASA’s 2023 budget is sizable. $ 26 billion, an 8% increase over the agency’s 2022 budget. What’s NASA planning to accomplish with those dollars?  Let’s take a look.

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xlink arm

Fixing Space with ISAM

A few weeks back, the White House released a 10-page PDF titled “In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing National Strategy”. Or, more commonly, ISAM. A 10-page PDF might not seem like a big deal, but the…

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Clearing space junk

Clearing Space Junk for Future Missions

Imagine launching a delicate spacecraft through a field of orbital debris, traveling at speeds of over 15,000 miles per hour. You just imagined a perfectly normal spacecraft launch. This, of course, is not a far-fetched…

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Space Missions to Watch in 2022

From commercial space races to more than 130 launches, 2021 was a year of exciting space programs. But with a new year comes new possibilities — and there’s a lot to look forward to in…

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3D Earth / globe in space

Space Junk + Science News for Students

On the morning of November 15, 2021, seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) awoke to the news that they were headed directly into an area littered with dangerous space junk. Any collision with…

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Animation of Motiv Robotic Arm system

Motiv Space Systems and Blue Origin Announce ModuLink

Motiv Space Systems announced today it has been awarded a contract under the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU’s) Modularity for Space Systems Program (M4SS) together with sub-contractor Blue Origin. The contract leverages Motiv’s advanced space robotics…

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An animation of mars with text that reads "Visit the Red Planet with Motiv Space Systems"

Visit The Red Planet With Motiv

Since touching down on Mars in February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been busy – it has driven 1.8 miles (a record for the longest rover drive in a Martian day!), taken more than 100,000…

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A cutaway view of a Motiv Space System with quote "The technologies that we develop and integrate are best suited to pushing scientific and industrial advancement forward."

The New Space Economy

The space economy is headed for a boom. With growing interests (and financing) from venture capitalists, capital investments and the government, it’s projected that the space economy could become a trillion-dollar field by 2040. Recently,…

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Mars Perserverance

Perseverance — Celebrating One Year on Mars

Today marks the one-year anniversary of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars. After launching in July 2020 and undergoing a 290-million-mile journey, the rover touched down in Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021. In the…

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Animation of a robotic arm delivering and placing the Motiv Space Systems logo

Join The Motiv Team!

From the Moon to Mars, robotic systems to astronauts and beyond, space exploration is rapidly expanding across our solar system. 2021 brought us the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars, suborbital spaceflights, and a…

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xLink robotics arm on a satellite wireframe

The Newest Space Race – Space Logistics

The Newest Space Race – Space Logistics (Pasadena, California – September 17, 2021) While we’ve been watching billionaires launch space crafts of their own, another space race has been taking place – space logistics. This…

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Tom McCarthy, Vice President, Business Development

Space Junk – A Birds Eye View

Space Junk – A Birds Eye View (Pasadena, California – August 6, 2021) As billionaires launch their own spaceships and modern-day space exploration grows, space junk is becoming a real issue. Tom McCarthy, Motiv Co-Founder…

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Engineers working on the mars rover

Want to Work With NASA or JPL? 4 Tips

Want to Work With NASA or JPL? 4 Tips (Pasadena, California – July 16, 2021) There’s probably not an engineer in existence who hasn’t at least thought about what it would be like to work…

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Moon surface in the foreground with Earth in the background.

Motiv Reaches Into The Future With COLDArm

Motiv Reaches Into The Future With COLDArm (Pasadena, California – June 28, 2021) Concluding our four-part series on the history of space robotics – and Motiv’s role in their development, with RoboMantis, xLink™, and the…

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Eddie Tunstel, Chief Technology Officer

Welcoming Motiv’s New CTO: Edward Tunstel

Welcoming Motiv’s New CTO: Edward Tunstel (Pasadena, California – June 9, 2021) Motiv is thrilled to announce our new Chief Technology Officer: Dr. Edward “Eddie” Tunstel. If you’re in the world of space robotics, you…

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Motivʼs Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm or COLDArm

Aviation Week Reveals New COLDArm Specs

Aviation Week Reveals New COLDArm Specs (Pasadena, California – April 19, 2021) The other week, Aviation Week dug into our work on COLDArm, and its lunar applications.   At the Moon, NASAʼs stepping stone to…

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Perseverance Rover Arm Deployment

Perseverance’s First Flex

Perseverance’s First Flex (Pasadena, California – March 9, 2021) Which of us hasn’t taken a selfie while flexing?   144 million miles away, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover just did the same thing.  Only, instead…

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Jezero Crater Rim on Mars

The View from Mars

The View from Mars (Pasadena, California – March 1, 2021) Three days into its mission, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover captured a 360-degree panoramic view of its surroundings, in Jezero Crater – presumed to be…

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Moving the Decimal Point for New Space

Moving the Decimal Point for New Space (Pasadena, California – Thursday, July 30, 2020) Motiv Space Systems is committed to building tools that will enable visionary ideas for “new space” to succeed. The vision is…

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collage of Motiv product renderings

Motiv Featured in the Robot Report Podcast

Motiv Featured in the Robot Report Podcast (Pasadena, California – July 29, 2020) Motiv’s own CEO, Chris Thayer, was the featured guest in the July 1st episode of the Robot Report’s weekly podcast. Listen now…

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