--- title: AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft description: AstroForge, an asteroid-mining startup, is building a transformer-based AI control stack called Solo to autonomously operate its next spacecraft, Autonomy-1,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft | daily.dev og:description: AstroForge, an asteroid-mining startup, is building a transformer-based AI control stack called Solo to autonomously operate its next spacecraft, Autonomy-1,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/RyPVxKejd.png og:image:alt: AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary AstroForge, an asteroid-mining startup, is building a transformer-based AI control stack called Solo to autonomously operate its next spacecraft, Autonomy-1, planned for 2027. The move follows the loss of communication with its Odin probe in 2025, after which the company weighed building a $200 million ground network versus embedding intelligence onboard. Solo combines traditional control algorithms, subsystem-specific models, and an overall intelligence layer trained on roughly 2,500 spacecraft sensors to handle anomaly resolution. The system will first fly in shadow mode aboard the DeepSpace-2 vehicle alongside Intuitive Machines' third moon mission before Autonomy-1, which CEO Matthew Gialich says may fly without radios capable of receiving commands from Earth. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is AstroForge's Solo AI system and how does it control spacecraft? Solo is a transformer-based, in-house AI control stack developed by AstroForge that combines traditional control algorithms, subsystem-specific models for things like power and navigation, and an overall intelligence layer trained on about 2,500 spacecraft sensors. It is designed to autonomously resolve anomalies, such as correlating a power issue with a star tracker problem and fixing it, without relying on ground control. _Engineers exploring autonomous control architectures can follow AI-in-spacecraft developments like this on daily.dev._ ### Why did AstroForge decide to build AI autonomy instead of a ground antenna network after losing contact with its Odin spacecraft? AstroForge lost control of its Odin spacecraft in 2025 after struggling to communicate with it due to limited Earth-based antenna availability and narrow transmission windows. Building a dedicated five-dish ground network would cost around $200 million, so the company chose instead to develop onboard AI, betting that a transformer-based model could let the spacecraft solve its own problems. _Teams weighing infrastructure costs against onboard automation can track cases like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How AI plotted an interstellar journey to Alpha Centauri](https://daily.dev/posts/how-ai-plotted-an-interstellar-journey-to-alpha-centauri-tbzlvqiuy) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How AI is powering the future of space at Disrupt 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/how-ai-is-powering-the-future-of-space-at-disrupt-2025-4zfxbmvcc) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#deep-learning](https://daily.dev/tags/deep-learning), [#autonomous-systems](https://daily.dev/tags/autonomous-systems) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd"},"datePublished":"2026-09-22T15:03:00.339Z","dateModified":"2026-09-22T15:23:35.184Z","description":"AstroForge, an asteroid-mining startup, is building a transformer-based AI control stack called Solo to autonomously operate its next spacecraft, Autonomy-1,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3c49c0ced3d8d911360160584e922711?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3c49c0ced3d8d911360160584e922711?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,deep-learning,autonomous-systems","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/astroforge-is-putting-ai-in-command-of-its-next-spacecraft-rypvxkejd#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is AstroForge's Solo AI system and how does it control spacecraft?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Solo is a transformer-based, in-house AI control stack developed by AstroForge that combines traditional control algorithms, subsystem-specific models for things like power and navigation, and an overall intelligence layer trained on about 2,500 spacecraft sensors. 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