Space Brothers manga to draw chapter in orbit using ISS robotic arm

Kodansha has announced Mission: SPACE COMIC, a project to create manga in space for the first time. The initiative will use a robotic arm aboard the International Space Station's Kibo module to remotely draw a new chapter of the popular series Space Brothers.

The chapter is numbered 425.5. Author Kōya Chūya will draw the chapter on Earth using the digital art app CLIP STUDIO PAINT. His pen stroke data will be transmitted to the ISS, where a robotic arm will replicate the movements on paper in the station's microgravity environment.

A consortium of companies, including robotics firms Space Entry and Meno, and software developer Celsys, is involved. The control software for the robotic arm is named "Verrocchio," a nod to a remote-control robot named "Da Vinci" that appears in Volume 34 of the manga.

"When I first heard about this, I was surprised—it's just like the remote-control robot 'Da Vinci' in the story," said author Kōya Chūya. "A technology I drew as a near-future dream has become reality."

The space-drawn chapter will be included in the final Volume 46 of Space Brothers, scheduled for release on July 22, 2026.

Source: PR Times via 株式会社講談社