Rendezvous Robotics

Rendezvous Robotics develops modular spacecraft designed to assemble, scale, and adapt in orbit. The company aims to move beyond the constraints of rocket fairings by building spacecraft from connected tiles that can be launched flat and assembled after deployment. Using electromagnetic control, tiles find and join one another autonomously, then secure with mechanical latches to create rigid structures. Additional tiles can expand a spacecraft’s apertures and power arrays, while reconfiguration allows capabilities to evolve as mission needs change.

Each tile incorporates a processor, sensors, electromagnetic actuators, a mechanical latch, payload capacity, and power and data interconnections. Together, these features support autonomous assembly and a connected network across the completed spacecraft. Rendezvous Robotics describes potential applications in defense, including intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, protected communications, and missile tracking; direct-to-device connectivity through large antennas; and orbital computing requiring substantial power and heat dissipation.

The company builds on research by Dr. Ariel Ekblaw at MIT, where the TESSERAE concept was developed and tested in space.