Icarus Robotics taps KULR to provide batteries for Space Station robots

NAPA, Calif. – Icarus Robotics, the New York startup developing dexterous mobile robots for space missions, selected KULR Technology Group to provide batteries for Joy, a free-flying platform destined for the International Space Station. Under the agreement, announced July 15, KULR One Space (K1S) battery systems will power Joy as it navigates, maneuvers and assists astronauts on the Joyride-1 mission scheduled for early 2027. Compared with batteries for satellites or terrestrial applications, batteries for systems that operate alongside people in space stations are “much more expensive, and much more critical safety-wise and design-wise,” Ethan Barajas, Icarus CEO and co-founder, told SpaceNews. KULR batteries, designed to comply with NASA crewed vehicle safety requirements, obtained flight heritage in a cubesat flown aboard NASA’s Artemis 2 lunar mission. The technology is being customized for Joy’s “performance profile, size and shape,” KULR CEO Michael Mo said in an interview. Space infrastructure expansion in orbit, on lunar and Martian surfaces and throughout deep space will require “more electromechanical systems with very different sets of power requirements” than traditional satellites, said Jamie Palmer, Icarus co-founder and chief technology officer. For example, robotic labor, large deployables and on-orbit compute “are getting more and more important, but the supply chain hasn’t necessarily risen to meet that yet.” KULR is developing battery technology to provide high power and high energy for autonomous systems in orbit, Mo said. “The next phase of space infrastructure won’t be defined by compute alone,” Mo said in a statement. “Orbital systems can’t be serviced by technicians, so the robots that inspect, repair, and assemble them — and the batteries that power them — are essential to keeping that infrastructure running safely.”