DARPA’s LunA-10 Study Paves Way for Lunar Infrastructure Boom

Gitai, Honeybee Robotics, Northrop Grumman, Redwire Space, and SpaceX are among the 14 companies chosen by DARPA for the sponsored "LunA-10" project. This project aims to develop commercial lunar infrastructure.

The selected companies have agreed to collaborate over a seven-month study to design integrated systems for various lunar services. These services include lunar power, mining and commercial in-situ resource use, communications, navigation, and timing, transit, mobility, and logistics, as well as construction and robotics.

The companies have specifically been chosen for the 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study. The study aims to accelerate the establishment of a future civil lunar framework that can be used by both the United States and international entities. The goal is to explore technology concepts for scalable systems that can operate jointly and provide monetizable services for future lunar users.

DARPA's objective is to move away from the current isolated, self-sufficient systems and towards an integrated model of commercial activity. The agency believes that LunA-10 has the potential to revolutionize how the civil space community approaches widespread commercial activity on and around the Moon within the next decade.

"LunA-10 performers include companies both big and small, domestic and international, each of which brought a clear vision and technically rigorous plan for advancing quickly towards our goal: a self-sustaining, monetizable, commercially owned-and-operated lunar infrastructure. We're excited to get started and to share results with the lunar community at large," said Dr. Michael Nayak, program manager in DARPA's Strategic Technology Office.

The 14 companies selected by DARPA for the LunA-10 project are Blue Origin, CisLunar Industries, Crescent Space Services LLC, Fibertek, Firefly Aerospace, GITAI, Helios, Honeybee Robotics, ICON, Nokia of America, Northrop Grumman, Redwire Corporation, Sierra Space, and SpaceX.

For example, GITAI's winning proposal involves modular, multi-purpose Inchworm robots equipped with tool-changeable end effectors. These robots would perform various tasks on the lunar surface, from construction to maintenance and adaptation, without unnecessary duplication.

Another company, Redwire, will focus on providing critical services to lunar assets from cislunar space. This includes high-speed communications and PNT (position, navigation, and timing) information.

All the companies will openly present their work to the lunar community at the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) Spring Meeting in April 2024. They will also provide a final report in June 2024.

For more information on the LunA-10 Capability Study, visit SAM.gov, the official online U.S. Government System.

Source: Example News