Assembled, not unfolded
Structures are constructed where they will live, from compact units, instead of being deployed from folded launch hardware.
Robotic assembly research
Robots that build the structure they become.
Thiral is a research programme developing swarms of modular robots that join together, share load and build large structures, with no external crane and no human steering. We are proving it on the ground, for construction in orbit and on the Moon.
01 The problem
Space structures are outgrowing the rocket.
Solar arrays, antenna towers, telescope backbones and power stations are larger than any launch fairing. Folding them does not remove their mass, and every added hinge is another place to fail. Rigid frames built in place are the credible route, and space agencies are already researching robotic in-space assembly.
The unsolved part is coordination: many simple machines working together, holding load, and finishing the job when one of them fails. That is the problem Thiral is built around.
02 Approach
Build in place, from many simple parts.
Coordination over complexity
Each machine stays simple. The capability comes from how a group of them works together without central control.
Resilient by design
The build is planned to continue when individual units fail, which is what makes it credible in places no one can repair.
03 Programme
Phase 1: prove it on the ground.
A working prototype in a controlled environment, built to demonstrate the coordination itself, not to be a flight product. It must show three things in a single continuous demonstration.
- A
A structure assembles with no operator steering it.
- B
The finished structure carries more than any single unit could.
- C
The build completes after a unit is deliberately taken out.
Where we are, plainly
The design is developed in simulation, with strength and motion claims re-checked by independent routes. Nothing has been physically tested yet. The next step is building the prototype and running the demonstration.
04 Roadmap
From simulation to flight test.
Now
Design in simulation
Architecture and mechanisms developed and checked in software.
Next
Build and demonstrate
A physical prototype and the live demonstration.
Then
Harden for space
Vacuum, thermal, dust and radiation work, towards a flight-testable system. Target window 2028 to 2029 and beyond.
The aim
Structures that are built where they are needed, by machines that work as one.