DARPA gave aerospace giant Northrop Grumman a green light after seeing its "lunar railroad" concept. The lunar railroads could open the Moon to serious economic development.
Lunar Railroad Concept As Part of LunA-10
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is on board with Northrop Grumman's idea about building a railroad network on the Moon. The development of a "lunar railroad" could make the resources and supplies accessible while on the Moon.
"The envisioned lunar railroad network could transport humans, supplies and resources for commercial ventures across the lunar surface, contributing to a space economy for the United States and international partners," Northrop Grumman representatives wrote in a press statement released on Tuesday (March 19).
In December, DARPA selected 14 businesses, including Northrop Grumman, to participate in its 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study. The study's goal is to assist humanity in expanding its economic footprint into deep space.
When the LunA-10 project was unveiled, Michael Nayak, program manager in DARPA's Strategic Technology Office, predicted a significant paradigm shift for the lunar economy in the next 10 years. LunA-10 specifically attempts to find solutions that can enable multi-mission lunar systems to reach a turning point more quickly.
"Key technologies that may be used by government and the commercial space industry, and ultimately to catalyze economic vibrancy on the moon" will be expedited by the project, Nayak added.
What Is LunA-10?
LunA-10 is a 10-year lunar architecture project that aims to examine the swift advancement of fundamental technological ideas intended to shift from solitary research projects within separate, self-sufficient systems to several resource-driven, scalable, and shareable systems that work together to reduce the lunar footprint and produce profitable services for users in the future.
The LunA-10 Topic Area 1 (TA-1) is centered on a portfolio of lunar providers and users that will collaborate to design a number of integrated lunar frameworks in the future that will use nonprofit and commercial development funding streams. Quantitative needs analyses, validated analyses for anticipated use cases, operational concepts, scaling analyses for fundamental systems, and metrics for integrated system performance will support each integrated system design and framework. In order to accomplish these objectives, performers will identify their present investments and upcoming technological hurdles.
LunA-10 is based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Article IV of the treaty states that all advancements and participation in this endeavor by military and/or civilian personnel are for peaceful and scientific reasons.
The intention of the proposed lunar architecture is not to facilitate human exploration or non-commercial scientific investigation. DARPA's LunA-10 TA-1 project aims to generate revenue from off-Earth commercial services for a broad range of customers who plan to conduct business on and around the Moon.
LunA-10 aims to facilitate the combination and optimization of as many infrastructure sectors as possible into expandable central nodes, according to DARPA. Envision a wireless power station with communications and navigation capabilities embedded into its beam. LunA-10 is looking for such linking nodes to create a thriving lunar commercial economy on the Moon, Nayak previously said.
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