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title: Google and NASA Cooperate on Building Floating Space Robots
description: NASA and Google will send floating robots equipped with the technology behind Project Tango into orbit this summer
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og:title: Google and NASA Cooperate on Building Floating Space Robots
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# Google and NASA Cooperate on Building Floating Space Robots

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by 

[Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/)


## Michelle Arrouas


Apr 22, 2014 6:36 AM UTC

by 

[Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/)


## Michelle Arrouas


Apr 22, 2014 6:36 AM UTC

Tech giant Google is [helping](http://siliconangle.com/blog/2014/04/21/googles-project-tango-finds-a-new-territory-the-nasa-space-station/) NASA make their floating robots smarter.

Since last summer, the two organizations have been cooperating on equipping NASA’s SPHERE satellites with 3-D mapping technology to allow the floating robots to move around more freely. They currently use a system based upon ultrasound and infrared light to navigate.

The SPHERES, which serve as robotic assistants to astronauts at the International Space Station, will be equipped with the technology behind [newly unveiled Project Tango](http://time.com/9214/google-introduces-phone-with-3d-sensors/) to better get around. The technology allows phones to make 3-D real-time maps of their environment, and so facilitating autonomous navigation.

“Think about having a free-flying robot that can fly around inside a space station, perhaps equipped with some type of future smartphone,” Zach Moratto, one of the NASA research engineers involved in the project, said in a [video](https://plus.google.com/+GoogleATAP/posts/P12BFo7bam3) about the development.

The Project Tango-equipped floating robots will be launched into orbit this summer, a [statement](https://plus.google.com/+GoogleATAP/posts/P12BFo7bam3) by Google said, before concluding on a bright note: “The future is awesome.”

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