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IROS 2026 plenary: NASA, JAXA and academia discuss space robotics

An IROS 2026 plenary session focused on space robotics, with experts from NASA, JAXA and academia discussing the roles of robots in lunar exploration, human spaceflight and in-orbit operations. After pausing the Gateway program, NASA shifted to the MoonBase project, with an initial operating capability targeted for 2029; robots will be needed to build modules, transport supplies and enable in-situ resource utilization. JAXA's MMX mission sampling robot needs to collect more than 10 grams of regolith in under a minute.

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