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 PolarFire product family provides DARPA researchers with new tools to address complex problems requiring high levels of operating performance and density.
Microchip is the only technology company in the DARPA program to offer radiation-tolerant FPGAs, MOSFETs, zenor diodes, transistors, ASICS, linear regulators, microcontrollers, oscillators, atomic clocks, power supplies, relays, and switches.
Microchip is committed to enabling DARPA researchers to solve complex problems with its low-power and secure FPGA product families.
Rocket Lab received a Phase 1 SBIR award from DARPA in 2015 for studies that included examining the use of Electron as an upper stage for DARPA’s XS-1 spaceplane and for flight data to support development of an autonomous flight termination system.
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy helped establish CONFERS when she was deputy director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office.
The 18 P3 satellites will include 12 UHF and S-band satellites and six satellites that will carry yet-to-be-determined payloads from the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
DARPA awarded Carillon Technologies a $6,400,000 contract to prototype next-generation satellite-to-satellite communication systems derived from Holographic Optical Beam Steering (HOBS) technology.
In March, DARPA awarded SEAKR Engineering a $60,400,000 contract to develop a data processing and artificial intelligence system known as Pit Boss for the Blackjack program.
DARPA’s Blackjack program awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a contract for Phase 2 development of an advanced, software-defined positioning, navigation and timing payload with options to build units destined for space flight.
DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office initiated the Space-BACN program on 2021-09-13.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is soliciting ideas to develop optical inter-satellite links that can connect government and commercial space communications systems in low Earth orbit.
In March, DARPA awarded SEAKR Engineering a $60,400,000 contract to develop a data processing and artificial intelligence system known as Pit Boss to enable autonomous operation of Blackjack satellites.
DARPA’s desired optical terminals for Space-BACN should support 100 gigabits per second data rates, require no more than 100 watts of power, and cost no more than $100,000 per unit.
Northrop Grumman tests the Arrays at Commercial Timescales Integration and Validation (ACT-IV) digital AESA system for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the company radar range in Linthicum, Maryland.
ACT-IV is one of the first multifunction systems based on a digital AESA using the semiconductor devices developed under the DARPA Arrays at Commercial Timescales (ACT) program.
DARPA ordered 10 satellite buses for Blackjack from Blue Canyon Technologies and two satellite buses from Telesat.
DARPA plans to launch 12 Blackjack satellites next year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency increased Lockheed Martin’s contract for satellite integration work for the Blackjack program by $25,300,000 on 2021-09-07.
Blue Canyon Technologies won a $14,100,000 DARPA contract in 2020 to manufacture four Blackjack satellites with options to build 16 additional small satellites.
Blue Canyon Technologies selected ExoTerra Resources to provide electric propulsion for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackjack Phase 2 and Phase 3 satellites.