Icarus is a New-York-headquartered, one-year-old space-technology startup co-founded by Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer that is building intelligent robots for use inside spacecraft. Instead of a humanoid design, its first product is a fan-propelled robot equipped with gripper-fitted arms capable of unpacking and stowing cargo. The company’s roadmap calls for flight testing within the next year, followed by a year-long demonstration on the International Space Station where the robot will progress from cargo movement to more intricate station maintenance tasks. Initially the robots will be tele-operated by humans, but Icarus ultimately aims to deploy fully autonomous units powered by artificial intelligence. Barajas’s early NASA experience and Palmer’s robotics research background inform the company’s technical approach. Financially, the startup has secured $6.1 million in seed funding to accelerate product development and testing.

Total raised

$6M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Sep 2025