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.
Mynaric was one of 11 companies and organizations selected by DARPA on 2022-08-10 for the Space-BACN project to develop interoperable inter-satellite links.
DARPA’s Space-BACN program aims to develop a low-cost, scalable optical communications terminal that can be reconfigured to work with various optical inter-satellite link standards.
Mynaric has been selected as a key development partner to create a benchtop model of a next-generation optical communications terminal as part of Phase 1 of DARPA’s Space-BACN program.
DARPA selected 11 teams for Phase 1 of the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program.
DARPA selected performers from academia and from large and small commercial companies for Phase 1 of Space-BACN, including multiple performers receiving first-time Department of Defense contracts.
DARPA selected 11 teams for Phase 1 of the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node program (Space-BACN).
DARPA selected teams from academia and from large and small commercial companies for Phase 1 of Space-BACN, including multiple performers receiving Department of Defense contracts for the first time.
Mynaric has been selected as a key development partner to create a benchtop model of a next-generation optical communications terminal as part of Phase 1 of DARPA’s Space-based adaptive communications node (Space-BACN) program.
DARPA selected 11 teams for phase 1 of Space-BACN on 2022-08-10.
DARPA will select some phase 1 providers to participate in an 18-month phase 2 to develop engineering design units of the optical terminal components.
DARPA selected 11 organizations to participate in phase 1 of the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program.
PredaSAR's larger satellite buses can accommodate secondary payloads, including a satellite with an optical inter-satellite link to communicate with DARPA's Blackjack satellites.
Clint Kelly III, a retired computer sciences and robotics program manager who worked at DARPA in the 1980s, was a member of the NS-22 crew and initiated a DARPA program that eventually led to driverless cars.
In the prior year, Congress appropriated $70,000,000 for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort to develop propulsion technologies for cislunar flight.
Millennium Space worked on the Red-Eye experiment under a DARPA contract awarded in 2016.
Raytheon Missiles & Defense partnered with Northrop Grumman to complete a second flight test of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Air Force.
The Mandrake-2 spacecraft were developed as an early risk reduction for DARPA’s Blackjack program to demonstrate high-bandwidth optical inter-satellite links via advanced laser communication technology.
SEAKR Engineering successfully demonstrated optical inter-satellite links between two DARPA Mandrake 2 satellites.
The processing elements that achieved TRL 9 on Mandrake 1 are building blocks for DARPA’s Pitboss and future Battle Management Command, Control, and Communication systems.
Under DARPA’s Blackjack project, two Mandrake 2 spacecraft were launched to demonstrate advanced laser communications.