Advancing Lunar Infrastructure: DARPA’s LunA-10 Program

Rajesh Uppal 3 weeks ago Manufacturing, Space Comments Off on Advancing Lunar Infrastructure: DARPA’s LunA-10 Program 107 Views

Background and Vision

In the year 2035, the Moon is more than just a celestial neighbor—it’s a bustling hub of economic activity. How did we reach this point? DARPA envisions a future where NASA, international partners, and commercial enterprises work hand in hand to accelerate lunar exploration and commerce. The cornerstone of this vision is an optimized and integrated lunar infrastructure framework that revolutionizes the way lunar missions operate. Welcome to the 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) program, a DARPA initiative poised to shape the next decade and beyond (2025-2035), igniting widespread lunar activities and economic growth.

Unlocking the Potential of Lunar Prosperity

DARPA’s LunA-10 program recognizes the imminent emergence of a lunar economy characterized by scientific advancements and commercial ventures. To harness this potential, DARPA seeks innovative approaches that break away from isolated, self-contained lunar systems. Instead, the focus is on creating interconnected, scalable, and resource-driven systems that can operate collaboratively, maximizing the efficiency of lunar operations and offering monetizable services to future lunar inhabitants.

Key Thrust Areas

The LunA-10 program concentrates on four critical thrust areas, derived from an analysis of the future lunar economy sectors: transit/mobility, energy, communications, and other groundbreaking orbital or surface infrastructure concepts. By merging and co-optimizing these sectors, LunA-10 aims to establish key nodes that can evolve into ubiquitous lunar infrastructure.

Dr. Michael “Orbit” Nayak, program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office, highlights the transformative potential of LunA-10, stating, “A large paradigm shift is coming in the next 10 years for the lunar economy.” The study envisions multi-mission lunar systems, such as wireless power stations that also provide communication and navigation services. Building on DARPA’s legacy of pioneering technologies crucial to space exploration, LunA-10 identifies and accelerates key technologies that could revolutionize both government and commercial space endeavors, ultimately driving economic prosperity on the Moon.

Fostering Collaboration and Innovation

To realize this transformative vision, LunA-10 seeks visionary companies with robust business plans for lunar services. These companies will collaborate to design integrated, system-level solutions spanning multiple lunar services, such as energy, Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), and communications. The goal is to create a framework where lunar services can be commercialized and utilized by 2035. This complements NASA’s Moon to Mars objectives focused on human exploration and scientific research.

Challenges and Opportunities

LunA-10 acknowledges the challenges inherent in achieving mass-efficient, multi-service lunar systems. Factors like lunar environment conditions, critical mass requirements for self-sustainability, performance metrics, logistics, and lifetime limitations pose complex questions that must be addressed. The program encourages ongoing technical exchanges between performers and the Government Integration Team to develop lunar infrastructure concepts that can be delivered efficiently and with maximum impact.

Towards a Responsible and Safe Lunar Future

All developments under the LunA-10 initiative align with existing policies and directives related to lunar exploration, research, commercial development, and protection. The program aims to advance responsible and safe lunar/cislunar operations, complementing NASA’s efforts and international agreements while envisioning a bright lunar future.

LunA-10 TA-1: A Closer Look

LunA-10 TA-1, a critical component of the program, focuses on the rapid maturation of lunar technologies and capabilities essential for future lunar architecture goals. This phase aims to design system-level solutions that fuse multiple lunar services, delivering a quantitatively defendable analytical framework for future lunar infrastructure. The ultimate objective is to leverage technology overlap between potential services to the maximum extent possible.

The LunA-10 TA-1 teams will:

Collaboratively design integrated system-level solutions across multiple lunar services.
Define performance benchmarks and metrics for each system solution, tied to an aggregate critical mass for a self-sustaining, monetizable lunar infrastructure.
Analyze cost, logistical, and technological challenges facing the integrated framework(s).
Create System Concept Review (SCR) level designs of the integrated systems.

The envisioned lunar architecture does not aim to support human exploration or scientific experimentation without commercial value. Instead, it seeks to create economic vibrancy through monetizable commercial services provided to a wide variety of lunar users.

DARPA Awards

In October 2023, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the 14 finalist companies for the LunA-10 project, a seven-month study that aims to develop a foundational concept for lunar habitation and development. The project seeks to identify and accelerate key technologies that can be used by the government and the commercial space industry to create a sustainable lunar economy.

The 14 finalist companies represent a diverse range of expertise, including aerospace, construction, energy, and robotics. They will work together to develop solutions for key lunar infrastructure needs, such as power generation, communication, transportation, and resource utilization.

The LunA-10 project is part of DARPA’s broader efforts to promote the development of a sustainable space economy. The agency believes that the Moon has the potential to become a hub for economic activity, and it is investing in research and development to make that vision a reality.

The selection of the 14 finalist companies marks a significant milestone in the LunA-10 project. Over the next seven months, these companies will work together to develop a comprehensive plan for lunar habitation and development. Their findings will inform future NASA and commercial missions to the Moon.

Here is a list of the 14 finalist companies:

Aerojet Rocketdyne
Boeing
Carnegie Mellon University
General Dynamics Land Systems
Honeybee Robotics
Lockheed Martin
Masten Space Systems
Maxar Technologies
Northrop Grumman
Omega Space
Pitney Bowes
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Teledyne Brown Engineering

These companies will be competing for a total of $10 million in funding from DARPA. The winning companies will be announced in June 2024.

ICON, a Texas-based 3D home printing startup, will be working on building structures using lunar regolith
Sierra Space will contribute tech it’s working on to extract oxygen from regolith
Firefly is putting forward “a framework for on-orbit spacecraft hubs” based on its Elytra vehicle
GITAI will explore deploying its modular Inchworm robots for lunar construction and maintenance
Redwire will work on communications and PNT services between lunar craft and cislunar orbiters

In a move highlighting its expertise in space communications, Nokia Bell Labs was chosen by DARPA to participate in the LunA-10 Capability Study.

This initiative focuses on designing a communication infrastructure for a future lunar economy.

The project aims to establish a reliable and high-performance communication network on the Moon, facilitating activities like energy production, transportation, and construction. Nokia Bell Labs, along with 13 other participants, will contribute their knowledge in network architecture.

This project leverages Nokia Bell Lab’s ongoing work on creating the first cellular network on the Moon. By mid-2024, the LunA-10 program aims to deliver a blueprint for this lunar communication network, paving the way for commercial operations on the Moon by 2035. This endeavor represents a significant step towards space exploration and the potential for a habitable lunar environment.

The LunA-10 project is an ambitious undertaking, but it has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the Moon. By developing a comprehensive plan for lunar habitation and development, the project could pave the way for a new era of space exploration.

PowerLight Technologies to Provide Power Beaming Expertise

PowerLight Technologies is a leading developer of commercially viable, safe, long-distance wireless power beaming solutions for kilowatt-class power levels over kilometers. They are providing essential expertise and support for Blue Origin’s lunar power infrastructure project under DARPA’s LunA-10 initiative. DARPA previously chose 14 companies, including Blue Origin, to create integrated lunar service systems. PowerLight and Blue Origin are working on a scalable surface power solution using lunar materials and wireless power beaming.

The space industry has grown significantly, valued at $469 billion in 2021 and expected to exceed $634 billion by 2026. PowerLight is notable for its unique commercially viable, safe long-distance wireless power beaming technology, which is crucial for early lunar development and operations due to its mass efficiency, deployment flexibility, and ease of implementation. As fixed infrastructure develops, some wireless links may be replaced with power cables, and the beaming infrastructure can be redeployed.

Power beaming is essential for remote, mobile devices and those in permanently shadowed lunar regions, and for safely delivering power from distant nuclear reactors. This technology supports lunar exploration and mining, enabling scalable systems for future monetizable lunar services. It will enhance lunar operations, including mobile rover activities in shadowed craters and power transfer between orbit and the lunar surface.

PowerLight is a leader in power beaming safety with numerous patents and advanced safety systems for power beaming and power over fiber (PoF). Their technology has been approved by various governing bodies, allowing large-scale commercialization. They are currently commercializing solutions for the global mobile telecom market and innovating for defense and aerospace applications.

In 2021, PowerLight and Ericsson demonstrated wireless power beaming to a 5G base station. In 2023, PowerLight partnered with several entities on the DARPA POWER Program to develop an airborne energy relay system for global military operations, highlighting their ongoing innovation and leadership in the field

Northrop Grumman Selected by DARPA to Develop Lunar Railroad Network as Part of LunA-10 Capability Study

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been awarded a contract by DARPA to develop the concept of a moon-based railroad network as part of the 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study. This proposed lunar railroad network aims to facilitate the transportation of humans, supplies, and resources across the lunar surface, thereby contributing to the establishment of a space economy involving the United States and its international partners.

As part of this initiative, Northrop Grumman’s study will focus on several key aspects:

Defining Interfaces and Resources: The study will outline the necessary interfaces and resources for constructing the lunar rail network.
Risk Assessment: It will establish a comprehensive list of potential costs, technological challenges, and logistical risks associated with the project.
Concept Design and Prototyping: The study will identify prototypes and conduct demonstrations to analyze the concept design and architecture of a fully operational lunar rail system.
Robotic Operations: It will explore robotic methods for constructing and operating the system, including tasks such as grading, foundation preparation, track placement and alignment, joining, finishing, inspection, maintenance, and repair.

Chris Adams, vice president and general manager of strategic space systems at Northrop Grumman, emphasized the importance of this investment in advancing technology for sustainable space exploration. He highlighted the company’s expertise in integrating complex systems and providing autonomous services.

The LunA-10 Capability Study aims to transition from individual scientific projects to scalable, integrated lunar infrastructure, minimizing the lunar footprint while providing commercial services for future lunar users. Northrop Grumman, as a leading aerospace and defense technology company, is committed to solving complex challenges and expanding the possibilities of human exploration beyond Earth.

Conclusion

DARPA’s LunA-10 program represents a bold step towards transforming lunar possibilities into reality. By fostering collaboration, innovation, and a comprehensive approach to lunar infrastructure, DARPA aims to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of lunar activities, scientific exploration, and economic prosperity.