Momentus Inc.

Stories

DARPA's NOM4D builds a truss in orbit without astronauts

Hosted the ASTRA payload on its Vigoride 7 orbital vehicle

A payload about one cubic meter in size rode a SpaceX rideshare rocket into orbit on March 30, 2026, carrying composite struts, aluminum joints, a perforated reflective film and a robot arm. Over the following months the robot picked up those parts and built a section of a truss in open space, with no astronaut involved.

Updated 6 days ago

Momentus tracks NASA satellite with low-cost AI sensors in orbital proximity test

New Capabilities

As of October 2026: Operating Vigoride-7, preparing Vigoride-8 and -9 missions

Momentus proved it can track and characterize a NASA CubeSat in orbit using a sensor suite built from commercial off-the-shelf parts, not the expensive military-grade hardware that usually does this work. The company's Vigoride-7 Orbital Service Vehicle used optical cameras, a compact solid-state LiDAR unit, and onboard edge-computing microprocessors to run autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) in any lighting condition. Vigoride-7 launched in March 2026 aboard SpaceX's Transporter-16 rideshare mission, and the demonstration ran under a $1.86 million SpaceWERX contract from the U.S. Space Force's innovation arm.

Updated Oct 6