# Icarus Robotics uses KULR technology to power JOY free-flying space robot > Source: > Published: 2026-07-15 18:10:47+00:00 Icarus Robotics today said it has chosen KULR Technology Group as the battery provider for JOY, its autonomous free-flying platform. JOY will travel to the International Space Station, or ISS, in early 2027. Under the agreement, KULR will supply its KULR ONE Space (K1S) battery systems to power JOY’s onboard systems as it autonomously navigates, maneuvers, and operates aboard the ISS. The Webster, Texas-based [company](https://kulr.ai/) engineered K1S to [NASA](https://www.therobotreport.com/tag/nasa/) safety standards and has already proven its effectiveness on the Artemis II crewed lunar mission. Ethan Barajas, the co-founder and CEO of Icarus, told [ The Robot Report](https://www.therobotreport.com/), there were a few reasons Icarus picked KULR, but flight heritage was the biggest one. “In the space domain, flight heritage is everything,” Barajas said. “If you can point NASA to components that have already worked in space, the approval process moves much faster. KULR’s battery architecture has already flown on the Artemis program, which means when we’re working with Voyager and the ISS team, we can point to that and say, ‘This is a known variable.’ For a young startup trying to move fast, that matters enormously.” “On top of that, KULR manufactures everything domestically — engineering, production, testing — which is increasingly important as we think about supply chain reliability for future missions,” he said. Icarus first announced its plans to send JOY to the ISS in March, when it [announced](https://www.therobotreport.com/icarus-robotics-to-test-its-free-flying-robots-in-the-iss-with-voyager/) its mission management contract with Voyager Technologies. Powered by embodied [AI](https://www.therobotreport.com/category/design-development/ai-cognition/), JOY will assist with routine tasks, infrastructure maintenance, and future commercial space station activities. The New York-based startup said its goal is to free up astronauts so they can focus on higher-value research and mission objectives. Last year, Icarus [raised](https://www.therobotreport.com/icarus-raises-6-1m-to-use-robots-to-supplement-space-labor/) $6.1 million in seed funding. Since then, Icarus has worked to turn its system into a scalable, production-ready robot. ## What does it take to charge a robot in space? To keep crew members safe and to reduce the risks of things going wrong, NASA has strict requirements for any [batteries](https://www.therobotreport.com/category/technologies/batteries-power-supplies/) on its flights. “Batteries for human spaceflight are an entirely different game,” Barajas said. “The governing standard is [JSC 20793](https://standards.nasa.gov/standard/JSC/JSC-20793_D), NASA’s crewed space vehicle battery safety requirements, which dictates how any battery flying near astronauts has to be designed and tested.” “It sorts batteries into three Battery Risk Classifications, and anything over 80 watt-hours falls into the top tier, which NASA calls catastrophic,” he explained. “That’s the actual terminology. So when you’re building a high-power, untethered platform like JOY, the battery pack gets large, and the safety requirements become extremely stringent. For batteries at that level, NASA permits no cell-to-cell propagation at all.” “KULR’s KULR ONE Space system is built to that standard, which includes passive propagation resistance,” Barajas continued. “That means if a single cell goes into thermal runaway, it can’t propagate through the rest of the pack. You’re also dealing with shock and vibration from launch, vacuum conditions, and radiation tolerance for the battery management system. It’s a fundamentally different problem from satellite batteries or terrestrial applications.” KULR built the KULR ONE Space battery system on its lightweight REACH battery architecture, delivering high energy density at low mass. K1S systems incorporate strategically selected cells qualified through Initial Lot Assessment (ILA), Lot Acceptance Testing (LAT), and NASA WI-37A cell screening protocols. When it comes to keeping JOY’s batteries charged in space, the robot will need to rely on help from the crew, for now. “JOY will be fully crew-tended at first, and this is mainly a safety decision,” said Barajas. “Early on, an astronaut charges the robot manually, the same way you would plug in any piece of equipment, which keeps a human in the loop while we build up operational history near the crew.” “We will have the capability to dock and charge autonomously moving forward, but for this deployment we won’t be demonstrating that immediately,” he added. “We’ll roll it out as the platform matures, and as we’re cleared to do so, because on a crewed station you earn autonomy incrementally. Autonomous docking is the unlock that lets us fully take crew time out of the loop and operate in uncrewed environments.” ## What’s next for Icarus as it prepares for its 2027 launch? JOY is targeted to fly in early 2027 as part of JOYRIDE-1. By integrating KULR ONE Space battery systems, Icarus said it draws on KULR’s space-qualified battery architecture, thermal management expertise, and NASA heritage. All of these will help it as it prepares for its first launch and beyond. “The 2027 ISS deployment is the foundation, but the expansion from where we’re at now is going to be massive,” Barajas said. “Right now, we’re being very conservative, building the partnership with KULR and making the small tweaks necessary to fit our platform for this first deployment.” “As we push into future missions in the vacuum of space, dealing with more extreme thermal environments, radiation, and temperature gradients, that’s when the work with KULR gets really exciting – really pushing the envelope of what these batteries can do together,” he noted. According to Icarus, it costs $130,000 an hour just to keep a person alive in space, and much of this time is spent sleeping, working out, and doing other necessary activities to stay happy and healthy. This makes an astronaut’s time valuable. “The bigger picture is that robotic labor has to be part of space stations moving forward. Whether you’re doing large-scale assembly, servicing, or manufacturing, it has to be there for the orbital economy to take off,” Barajas said. “Every time we deploy with KULR’s K1S system, it builds flight heritage that transfers across the entire ecosystem, to commercial stations and to future missions. It becomes a known variable, and that decreases the friction for the whole industry, not just for us.”