WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is kicking off a study to develop an “analytical framework” to guide development of integrated lunar infrastructure over the subsequent decade.
DARPA announced the 10-Yr Lunar Architecture, or LunA-10, project Aug. 15, searching for ideas from each potential developers or lunar power, communications, navigation and other infrastructure in addition to users of such capabilities. The agency plans to pick out a gaggle that can then work together on “recent integrated system-level solutions that span multiple services” and be commercially available by 2035, it said in a release.
Michael Nayak, the DARPA program manager leading LunA-10, noted in an interview that many corporations are working on various elements of that infrastructure in isolation. “We wish to bring those corporations in to LunA-10 and form kind of a consortium,” he said. The hassle would take a look at ways of mixing those concepts, with one example being a lunar power unit that also transmits communications and navigation signals.
The study can even define a “business end state” for lunar infrastructure in 10 years. “That is the top state at which now we have a self-sufficient lunar economy,” he said, allowing the project to work backwards from there to see what technology is required to create that and discover gaps.
He described the study as split “50-50” between technology and economics. “I do want to take a look at each: an engineering-rooted, financially closed evaluation.”
Such a study would seem like inside the mandate of NASA, which has been working on an in depth architecture for lunar and Martian exploration, the primary phase of which it released in April. Nayak said DARPA was coordinating with NASA on this effort, describing LunA-10 as complementary to NASA architecture studies.
“We got down to talk with NASA, determine what they’re doing, determine what their roadmap is, after which see if there are other complementary investments that we will make to significantly advance the cutting-edge which are kind of in keeping with your typical DARPA mission,” he said.
He said he has been working directly with Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, on planning for LunA-10 and tapping the agency’s expertise in relevant technologies.
“Opportunities for technology maturation are key for development for lunar capabilities with a view to meet the objectives of future lunar architectures,” Werkheiser said within the DARPA statement in regards to the study.
The profit to DARPA for this lunar study is identifying technology that would produce other national security applications. Nayak gave an example of developing advanced thermal management technologies, needed for power systems on the moon that may also provide communications and navigation services, that could possibly be used elsewhere. “Framing problems like that’s what I’m hoping the defense community can walk away with at the top of this,” he said.
DARPA emphasized within the announcement that the study is “grounded” in Article 4 of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which states that the moon and other celestial bodies will probably be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and forbids the establishment of military bases and testing of weapons there.
DARPA is soliciting three-page abstracts which are due Sept. 6. The agency will then request 10-page white papers and technical presentations from a few of those that submitted abstracts, which will probably be due Sept. 25. DARPA plans to pick out those that will work on the study at the autumn meeting of the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC), scheduled for Oct. 10–11 in Pittsburgh.
Nayak said the goal of LunA-10 is to present an “80% product” of the study on the April 2024 meeting of LSIC, to point out “some things that the community can go take into consideration and show our work.” A final report is due in June 2024.