Use case 26 HorizonRetrofit now · Greenfield next
A crew companion that lives inside the habitat: it knows each crew member, remembers every procedure, decision and handover, supports morale in isolation, and works with no link to Earth.
Prismatic Agents makes Prismatic. Its row is first, highlighted and labelled, so you can compare every solution against it; the others follow alphabetically and are ranked by nobody. Every value carries an evidence label; "Where Prismatic leads" is our view as its maker.
CIMON, the only crew companion that has flown, answered through IBM Watson in a cloud in Frankfurt, via satellite and a ground station. NASA's Astrobee and JAXA's Int-Ball2 are on-board helpers without companionship. Analogue missions and polar stations, where isolation is real on Earth, are where a local companion can be proven first. Full facts: file 15.
Machines and chips in use: Free-flyers on the ISS (Astrobee, CIMON-2, Int-Ball2); habitat computers at analogue and polar stations.
Greenfield for Prismatic. No product here keeps a private, lasting local mind inside the machine: Prismatic on the Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB is designed for this gap.
| Solution | Type | Machine and chip | Where its AI thinks | Lasting memory | Offline | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PrismaticWe make it | Lasting local mind (never controls motion or safety) | A 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) at an analogue or polar station (retrofit), then a Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB inside new habitats (greenfield) | Local only Measured | Lasting memory with sources, receipts and handover Measured | Yes Measured | US$99 per habitat a month, unlimited turns; US$500 activation + Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB module US$2,999 once per habitat (proposed sector licence) Estimate |
| Astrobee · NASA | Free-flying helper robots | Three cubes on the ISS | On board navigation Published | Not a companion Published | Yes Published | Programme Published |
| CIMON-2 · Airbus / DLR with IBM | Crew assistant with emotion awareness | Free-flyer on the ISS | Cloud: IBM Watson in Frankfurt via satellite and a Lucerne ground station Published | Not described Not disclosed | No Published | Government-funded Published |
| Int-Ball2 · JAXA | Free-flying camera robot | On the ISS | On board, more autonomous than Int-Ball Published | Not a companion Published | Yes Published | Programme Published |
Sector price: US$99 per habitat a month, unlimited. Proposed list prices in US dollars; change the numbers and everything updates.
What this sector pays today: Government programmes; no per-unit software price published (Not disclosed). That is often a whole product; Prismatic adds the lasting local memory beside it. Hardware is bought by you from Apple or NVIDIA. Electricity at 14.2¢/kWh around the clock. Prices are proposals until the first customer agrees them. How Prismatic is licensed
Handover knowledge and energy over a mission.
How it works: records = days × notes; energy = watts × 24 × days.
One card per solution. Strengths first; gaps are about this job, not about the product being bad.
Our review. Useful inventory, imaging and research helpers.
Gaps for this job. Not built for companionship or memory.
Sources: ntrs.nasa.gov
Our review. The first AI crew companion in space, aimed at stress from isolation.
Gaps for this job. Its mind is on Earth: impossible at Mars distances.
Sources: newsroom.ibm.com · airbus.com
Our review. Frees astronauts from camera work.
Gaps for this job. Not a companion.
Sources: arxiv.org
The maker's view · the chart above is unchanged
Host: A 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) at an analogue or polar station (retrofit), then a Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB inside new habitats (greenfield).
Hosts. Prismatic runs on a 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) beside machines that already work, and is carried next into new machines on the Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB, the host for greenfield sites.
Licence here (proposed sector price, US$): US$99 per habitat a month, unlimited turns. What this sector pays today: Government programmes; no per-unit software price published Not disclosed. Design-partner pilot: US$5,000 for 90 days, credited in full to the first year's licence. How Prismatic is licensed
Status: Companions, diary, briefs, handover and presence run today; the research protocol with a station is to agree. Features used: Rich Souls, Presence / promise keeper, Local-only, Shift handover, Meetings + decisions, Diary / work journal, Spoken daily brief, Memory from own records.
A day with it: Month five at the polar station, the night before handover: the companion reads back the season's three biggest decisions and the generator fault that still recurs, then, quietly, asks Sam how the call home went.
Genesis Blueprint · Quest blueprint (QRD)
A crew companion that lives in the habitat, knows each person and every handover, and needs no link to the outside. A season with a crew in isolation is a journey where the agents are companions on the path.
In a Prismatic studio this blueprint waits in the Marketplace, ready to be born: Genesis gives each role an original name, look, voice and character, and nothing starts until the founder presses Generate. Founders can also write their own blueprint step by step in the Blueprint Builder.
Scores are first-pass hypotheses from general industry knowledge (UseCase file 05), not researched market sizes.
For patient investors
Retrofit sites pay first on a 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) beside machines that already work. Greenfield machines carry the same mind inside, on the Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB, licensed per machine. The horizon (blackouts, wilderness, space) is where a mind that needs no cloud is not a feature but the point.
Any unpublished agency companion projects.
A quick introduction to the names on this page. Staff counts describe the stated organisation and reporting period; they are not live totals.
Builds passenger aircraft, helicopters and space and defence equipment. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Makes iPhones, Mac computers and other devices, along with their software and online services. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Germany's research organisation for aviation, space, energy and transport. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Provides business software, computing infrastructure and consulting services. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Japan's national agency for space exploration and aerospace research. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
The US government agency responsible for civilian space exploration and aeronautics research. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Designs processors and software used for AI, graphics and large computing workloads. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Prismatic Agents