Articles about DARPA

Illustration: Beamed-power system on the moon

PowerLight joins Blue Origin to study power beaming system for the moon

Kent, Wash.-based PowerLight Technologies says it’s joined a team headed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to design a… Read More

DARPA and other federal agencies work on strategies to revive America’s chip industry

Tech executives, researchers and government officials are gathering in Seattle this week to figure out ways to add a new… Read More

Illustration: DRACO nuclear-powered spacecraft

DARPA and NASA pick Lockheed Martin to demonstrate DRACO nuclear rocket

NASA and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have selected Lockheed Martin and BWX Technologies to move forward with… Read More

DARPA boosts Microsoft’s far-out effort to build topological quantum computer

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is laying down a bet on Microsoft’s long-running effort to create an industrial-scale… Read More

Illustration: Nuclear thermal rocket in space

NASA joins forces with DARPA on effort to demonstrate nuclear rocket for Mars trips

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has taken on NASA as a partner for a project aimed at demonstrating a… Read More

Electric Sky wins DARPA grant to work on focused power beaming system for drones

A startup called Electric Sky says it’s begun building its first Whisper Beam transmitter for providing tightly focused wireless power… Read More

UW Medicine seeks 25,000 volunteers to try outbreak-predicting smartphone app

Can a smartphone app generate an early warning for an outbreak of coronavirus, flu, colds or other infections? A project… Read More

‘Didn’t quite make it’: Data glitch forces Astra to miss out on $2M DARPA Launch Challenge prize

The once-stealthy California company known as Astra came within 53 seconds of sending up a rocket to try winning a… Read More

Robots and their masters take over nuclear plant for DARPA’s Subterranean Challenge

SATSOP, Wash. — Amid the ruins of what was meant to be a nuclear power plant, a robot catches a… Read More

The clock is running for the DARPA Launch Challenge, with Astra chasing $10M prize

The DARPA Launch Challenge has begun, with a once-stealthy space startup called Astra aiming to launch two rockets from an Alaska… Read More

Farewell, Phantom Express: Boeing is pulling out of DARPA space plane program

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says Boeing is dropping out of its Experimental Spaceplane Program immediately, grounding the… Read More

What’s the best way to measure the smarts of AI systems? Researchers are developing an IQ test

Artificial intelligence can do a lot of impressive things, like find snow leopards among Himalayan grasses captured by remote cameras,… Read More

Echodyne and Univ. of Washington assist DARPA with aerial drone surveillance test

When the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tested an “Aerial Dragnet” system for tracking drones over urban terrain last… Read More

The three finalists in the DARPA Launch Challenge include a mystery competitor

Three teams have qualified to go into the rocket-launching phase of the DARPA Launch Challenge: Vector Launch, Virgin Orbit’s VOX Space… Read More

Rocket Lab launches DARPA’s R3D2 experimental satellite from New Zealand

Rocket Lab executed its first launch of the year from New Zealand today, sending an experimental satellite into orbit for… Read More

Seattle startup Tasso raises $6M for at-home blood draw technology

Tasso, the maker of a product that lets patients collect their own blood at home, raised $6.1 million in a round… Read More

DARPA is zeroing in on Launch Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration are winnowing down 18 pre-qualified teams… Read More

Rocket engine scores ‘perfect 10’ in 10-day test for Phantom Express space plane

A rocket engine built from spare space shuttle parts — and the team behind the engine — passed a grueling 10-day,… Read More

DARPA Launch Challenge offers $10M top prize for rapid-turnaround orbital liftoffs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Almost 15 years after a $10 million competition gave a boost to private-sector spaceflight, the Pentagon’s Defense… Read More

Boeing wins go-ahead from DARPA to build and test XS-1 military space plane by 2020

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says it has selected the Boeing Co. to develop and test its XS-1… Read More

DARPA group will promote best practices for using robots to make satellite repairs in space

Getting a satellite into orbit may be a challenging enough endeavor on its own, but the idea of repairing one… Read More

On this day in history, the Internet was born

Forty-seven years ago today, two computers hooked up. They bridged the gap between UCLA and Stanford and their amorous union… Read More

Brain implant provides sense of touch with robotic hand – and that’s just the start

A dozen years ago, an auto accident left Nathan Copeland paralyzed, without any feeling in his fingers. Now that feeling is… Read More

DARPA chief Arati Prabhakar on self-driving ships, space travel, IoT, genetics, and more

The Internet of Things so widely predicted as the Next Big Thing in computing is full of promise but presents a correspondingly large… Read More