The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has put out a call for technical approaches as it launches a seven-month capability study that aims to develop technology concepts that could pave the way for the development of an integrated, multiservice lunar infrastructure.
The 10-Year Lunar Architecture study seeks to build an analytical framework that could define opportunities for commercial and scientific activity on and around the lunar surface and has several thrust areas, including transit or mobility; communications; energy; and other revolutionary orbital or surface infrastructure concepts, DARPA said Tuesday.
“To get to a turning point faster, LunA-10 uniquely aims to identify solutions that can enable multi-mission lunar systems – imagine a wireless power station that can also provide comms and navigation in its beam,” said Michael “Orbit” Nayak, program manager at DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office.
“Just like DARPA’s foundational node of ARPANET grew into the sprawling web of the internet, LunA-10 is looking for those connective nodes to support a thriving commercial economy on the Moon,” added Nayak.
DARPA will accept three-page abstracts through Sept. 6 and will ask the selected respondents to submit 10-page white papers and technical presentations by Sept. 25.
The agency will announce the chosen performers for the LunA-10 study during the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium’s fall meeting in October, ask them to provide a briefing by April 2024 and deliver a final report by June 2024.
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