Cute, floating space drone can lighten astronauts’ workload

TSUKUBA, JAPAN — The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency has developed a cute, floating camera drone that can lighten the workload of astronauts on the International Space Station.

The Int-Ball weighs 1 kg and has a diameter of 15 cm. It uses existing drone technology of Miniaturized Attitude Control Sensors and Actuators in an All-in-one Module.

The drone arrived the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” on the International Space Station on June 4 and is remotely controlled by the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center from the ground.

At the moment, astronauts on the ISS spend around 10 percent of their time just taking photos and videos. In the future, the Int-Ball is expected to take over the photography task from the space crew and will be able to operate autonomously. It will also be able to check on the space station supplies and diagnose onboard problems.