Use case 25 HorizonRetrofit now · Greenfield next
Persistent operating memory for space robots (station arms such as the Canadarm family and Dextre, free-flyers, lunar arms and rovers): every operation, anomaly, decision and handover kept on board when the ground is minutes or days away.
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.
The Canadarm family built and maintains the ISS; Canadarm3 is being designed to be highly autonomous and, with NASA's Gateway paused in March 2026, redirected toward the Moon's surface. GITAI demonstrates autonomous arms; Perseverance drives Mars mostly by itself on a radiation-hardened processor. None publishes an on-board memory of operations that survives hardware changes. Full facts: file 15.
Machines and chips in use: Canadarm2 and Dextre on the ISS; Canadarm3 in development (CA$999.8M contract); GITAI S2 arms; Perseverance with two RAD750 CPUs and an FPGA vision co-processor.
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 a ground test bed or analogue station first (retrofit); a Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB in new machines next (greenfield); flight hardware much later | Local only Measured | Lasting memory with sources, receipts and handover Measured | Yes Measured | US$99 per arm a month, unlimited turns; US$500 activation + Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB module US$2,999 once per arm (proposed sector licence) Estimate |
| Canadarm2 + Dextre · MDA / Canadian Space Agency | Station arm and dexterous handyman | ISS robotics | Operated from the station and the ground Published | Mission records on the ground Reported | Operator-controlled Published | Government programme Published |
| Canadarm3 · MDA Space / CSA | Autonomous next-generation arm | AI, machine vision; in development | Highly autonomous, on board Published | Not described Not disclosed | Designed to work without ground oversight Published | CA$999.8M contract (reported) Reported |
| GITAI S2 / Inchworm · GITAI | Autonomous space arms | Dual arm on the ISS; lunar studies | Autonomous demos Reported | Not described Not disclosed | Not disclosed Not disclosed | Not disclosed Not disclosed |
| Perseverance AutoNav · NASA JPL | Mars rover autonomy | Two RAD750 CPUs + FPGA co-processor | On board Reported | Not described Not disclosed | Yes (~88–90% of driving autonomous) Reported | Mission Published |
Sector price: US$99 per arm a month, unlimited. Proposed list prices in US dollars; change the numbers and everything updates.
What this sector pays today: Government programmes; no per-unit software price published (Not disclosed). That is often a whole product; Prismatic adds the lasting local memory beside it. Hardware is bought by you from Apple or NVIDIA. Electricity at 14.2¢/kWh around the clock. Prices are proposals until the first customer agrees them. How Prismatic is licensed
The farther the robot, the longer every question to Earth takes.
How it works: delay = distance ÷ speed of light (299,792 km/s). Physics, not an estimate: only the distance changes.
One card per solution. Strengths first; gaps are about this job, not about the product being bad.
Our review. Canada's flagship: 25 years of building and maintaining the ISS.
Gaps for this job. Ground-operated; no on-board memory of lessons.
Sources: asc-csa.gc.ca · asc-csa.gc.ca
Our review. Designed to work with and without people at lunar distance.
Gaps for this job. Gateway paused; the mission is being redefined.
Sources: asc-csa.gc.ca · gagadget.com
Our review. Commercial space robotics with JAXA lunar-rover arm studies.
Gaps for this job. Demonstrations, not yet operations at scale.
Sources: gizmodo.com · spacenews.com
Our review. Proof that autonomy works far from Earth on tiny compute.
Gaps for this job. Navigation autonomy, not an operations memory.
Sources: science.org · engadget.com
The maker's view · the chart above is unchanged
Host: A 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) at a ground test bed or analogue station first (retrofit); a Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB in new machines next (greenfield); flight hardware much later.
Hosts. Prismatic runs on a 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) beside machines that already work, and is carried next into new machines on the Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB, the host for greenfield sites.
Licence here (proposed sector price, US$): US$99 per arm 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: Operations journal, receipts and resume run today (PPAI); space-grade hardware is a long road. Features used: PPAI gateway, Machine resume, Receipt ledger / audit, Recurrences, Work orders, Confirm-before-write, Local-only, Portable genome.
A day with it: Before an arm operation, the operator asks what happened the last three times the arm grappled this handrail. The on-board mind answers with the dated journal entries: one joint-temperature warning in shade, cleared by waiting 20 minutes, and proposes the same wait, for a yes.
Genesis Blueprint · Project blueprint (PRD)
Every operation, anomaly and handover of a station robot arm kept with receipts, proven first on a ground test bed. A funded ground study on a robotics test bed is a project with a defined end.
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.
Power draw of flight computers; any unpublished agency memory systems.
A quick introduction to the names on this page. Staff counts describe the stated organisation and reporting period; they are not live totals.
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.
A university focused on science and engineering education and research. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Canada's government agency for space exploration, research and technology. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Develops robots intended to carry out construction and maintenance tasks in space. [1] [2]
Sources checked 2026-09-27. 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.
A NASA research centre, managed by Caltech, that builds and operates robotic missions exploring Earth and space. [1]
Sources checked 2026-10-05. Profiles are current background, not a statement of who held a role on the article date.
Builds satellites, space robotics and systems for observing Earth. [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