The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for creating breakthrough technologies for national security. While not a space agency, DARPA initiates and manages high-risk, high-payoff projects relevant to space, including satellite constellations, space-based surveillance tech, lunar habitats, and advanced propulsion systems like nuclear thermal rockets. DARPA partners with various organizations, including NASA, U.S. Space Force, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, and BAE Systems, to achieve its goals. Keywords associated with DARPA's space activities include space superiority, space-based weaponry, advanced materials, and autonomous systems.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The CONDOR Mk2 was recently delivered to Telesat Government Solutions as part of the DARPA Blackjack program.
Kurt “Spuds” Vogel is NASA’s director of space architectures and led development of the new architecture after joining NASA in mid-2021 from DARPA.
Raytheon’s wide-field-of-view infrared sensor developed for DARPA is 95% complete.
DARPA plans to launch four Blackjack satellites later 2023 built on Blue Canyon buses and equipped with SEAKR radio-frequency communications payloads.
The Space Development Agency was especially interested in a wide-field-of-view infrared sensor that Raytheon developed for DARPA’s Blackjack program under a $37,000,000 contract awarded in 2020.
DARPA decided not to place Raytheon’s wide-field-of-view infrared sensor on its Blackjack satellites, and the sensor will be provided to the Space Development Agency as government-furnished equipment.
The COSMIC consortium builds upon technology maturation and demonstration efforts including NASA’s On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing missions, the joint Defense Aerospace Projects Research Agency and SpaceLogistics effort Robotic Servicing of Geostationary Satellites/Mission Robotic Vehicle (RSGS/MRV), and SpaceLogistics’ Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV).
DARPA plans to solicit responses to multiple technical topics under BRIDGES that will be introduced periodically.
Rocket Lab’s star trackers are deployed on Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Mandrake 1 and Mandrake 2 satellites.
DARPA will conduct an initial round of evaluation on proposals received before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, 2023-05-31.
Electron has been providing access to orbit since 2018 and has successfully deployed satellites for NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, DARPA, and the U.S. Space Force.
Applications for the APS include autonomous operation of heterogeneous constellations of Low Earth Orbit satellites with DARPA and AFRL.
The delivered CONDOR Mk2 terminals will be mounted to the Croupier satellites as part of DARPA’s Blackjack Track B program.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with the private sector on Space-BACN, a project to develop a standard, low-cost laser terminal to connect government and commercial constellations in low Earth orbit.
The delivered CONDOR Mk2 terminals will be mounted to Croupier satellites as part of DARPA’s Blackjack Track B program.
NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will collaborate to demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space under the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program.
DARPA is collaborating with NASA to build a nuclear thermal rocket engine under the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program.
DARPA had not selected a Phase 2/3 awardee at the time of the NASA–DARPA partnership and expected to select an awardee within a couple of months.
DARPA solicited proposals for DRACO Phases 2 and 3 in May 2022 to develop and test the engine and perform a flight demonstration, with a then-planned timeframe of fiscal year 2026.
DARPA started the DRACO program with three Phase 1 awards in April 2021 to teams led by Blue Origin, General Atomics, and Lockheed Martin to develop preliminary reactor and spacecraft designs.