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
- 8
- Ended
- 17
- Announced only
- 4
29 entries, drawn from 40 reviewed deployment records across 27 machines and 19 makers at 5 destinations. The registry holds 38 reviewed models in its space class; 27 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.
| Destination | Operating | Ended | Announced | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mars | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| The Moon | 1 | 11 | 0 | 12 |
| The International Space Station | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Low Earth orbit | 4 | 8 | 1 | 13 |
| Geostationary orbit | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
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.
Autonomous cargo spacecraft performing fast autonomous rendezvous-and-docking with the Tiangong space station. Maker on the record: China Manned Space Agency. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Operating on the recordMay 29, 2021 (as reported) to Sep 20, 2021 (as reported)Crewed spacecraft performing autonomous fast-rendezvous docking with the Tiangong space station. Maker on the record: China Manned Space Agency. 2 deployment records on the registry back this entry.
Operating on the recordJun 17, 2021 (as reported)GEO life-extension servicer that autonomously rendezvouses with and docks to a client satellite's apogee-engine ring, then provides station-keeping and attitude control. Maker on the record: Northrop Grumman SpaceLogistics.
Operating on the recordApr 12, 2021 (as reported)
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)- MAPP (Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform): The Moon
Commercial lunar micro-rover designed for autonomous prospecting; first American commercial robotic rover sent toward the Moon. Maker on the record: Lunar Outpost.
Ended, outcome not classifiedMar 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.
High-energy kick stage designed for direct GEO insertion from LEO. Maker on the record: Impulse Space.
Commercial robotic Mars lander under joint development with Relativity Space. Maker on the record: Impulse Space.
Orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) for last-mile payload delivery in LEO and beyond. Maker on the record: Impulse Space.
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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