AstroForge Puts Transformer-Based 'Solo' AI in Autonomous Command of Deep-Space Probe

AstroForge said its in-house transformer model 'Solo' will take autonomous control of the Autonomy-1 asteroid-mining probe, integrating traditional control algorithms, subsystem models trained on power and navigation test data, and an overall intelligence layer trained on ~2,500 spacecraft sensors. Solo will fly in shadow mode aboard DeepSpace-2 (launching late 2026) before running Autonomy-1 solo in 2027 — CEO Matthew Gialich says he doesn't plan to fly Earth-receiving radios on the mission. The company frames it as 'constrained autonomy' for anomaly resolution when ground contact is impossible.