AstraQua wins $1,274,990 NASA Phase II for AstraSense

AstraQua's Phase II award follows a Phase I in which it demonstrated real-time diagnostics and predictive-health capabilities to NASA. The new phase moves from demonstration toward aircraft integration and health-informed reasoning, with verification and validation for safety-critical applications — a step aimed at helping machines use their own health information to decide whether to continue a task, adapt or stop.

The company frames this as "teaching robots to feel pain": a robot should know when to slow down, not just when it has broken down, as CEO Loay Elbasyouni put it. Beyond a single machine, AstraSense is designed to share health information across teams, so a robot that is limited can have its unfinished tasks reassigned to another capable machine — for example, ground robots inspecting equipment while drones survey a site.

AstraQua's broader approach emphasizes low-power onboard intelligence and reduced dependence on continuous cloud connectivity. Elbasyouni's background includes electrical and power-electronics work supporting NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and rocket-engine avionics at Blue Origin, experience the company is applying to physical AI for autonomous machines.