Northrop Grumman Receives DARPA Grant to Develop Concepts for a Lunar Railway

The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has recently awarded a grant to Northrop Grumman to develop concepts for a lunar railway as part of the LunA-10 program.

DARPA’s LunA-10 program is a 10-year plan to create a framework for integrated lunar infrastructure that minimizes lunar footprint and provides commercial services for peaceful U.S. and international use.

“For 65 years, DARPA has pioneered and de-risked technologies vital to civil space advancement,” said Dr. Michael “Orbit” Nayak, program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office. “LunA-10 continues this rich legacy by identifying and accelerating key technologies that may be used by the government and the commercial space industry, and ultimately to catalyze economic vibrancy on the Moon.”

Northrop Grumman’s lunar railway concept will be designed to transport humans, supplies and resources across the lunar surface to support commercial lunar ventures.

“This investment in key developmental research keeps our technology at the forefront of next generation solutions,” said Chris Adams, vice president and general manager of strategic space systems at Northrop Grumman. “With our proven experience in the integration of complex systems and commercialized autonomous services, we will continue to create lasting change for a sustainable space ecosystem.”

Many users on social media were outraged to hear their tax dollars were going towards such an outlandish idea. “You don’t have healthcare because the goddamn moon needs a fucking train from a goddamn weapons contractor,” said user Elyon113 on Tiktok.

@elyon113

Im an angery honey badger #moontrain

♬ original sound – Elyon113

However, according to a press release by DARPA, LunA-10 is only funding the ideation of these concepts and how they will integrate with each other. “LunA-10 will not fund technology construction, transportation to the lunar surface, or integration with lunar delivery vehicles.”

Northrop Grumman will begin by assessing the foreseeable cost, technological and logistical risks. They will also explore concepts for constructing and operating the system with robotics, including grading and foundation preparation, track placement and alignment, joining and finishing, inspection, maintenance and repair.

Northrop Grumman is one of 14 companies that have been selected by the LunA-10 program to develop individual concepts, and work together to integrate them into a commercialized lunar community.

“LunA-10 performers include companies both big and small, domestic and international, each of which brought a clear vision and technically rigorous plan for advancing quickly towards our goal: a self-sustaining, monetizable, commercially owned-and-operated lunar infrastructure,” said Nayak. “We’re excited to get started and to share results with the lunar community at large.”

The other companies chosen by the LunA-10 project include Blue Origin, CisLunar Industries, Crescent Space Services LLC, Fibertek Inc., Firefly Aerospace, GITAI, Helios, Honeybee Robotics, ICON, Nokia of America, Redwire Corporation, Sierra Space and SpaceX.

These companies will be working on solutions for lunar power; mining and commercial in-situ resource utilization; communications, navigation, and timing; transit, mobility, and logistics; and construction and robotics.

“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,” Nayak said.

GITAI has already showcased their inchworm robots that are able to attach to a GITAI rover, and use a variety of tools. Blue Origin and SpaceX will be improving their designs for experimental reusable mega rockets.

In order to choose these companies, DARPA initiated the LunA-10 capability study in 2023. Companies that wished to be involved in the LunA-10 project were required to send DARPA a three-page abstract on their research and how it applies to LunA-10’s mission.

The companies whose abstracts were chosen were required to submit a ten-page white paper and a technical presentation. Then the companies that were selected were awarded a grant of up to $1 million to pursue their designs. 

“LunA-10 has the potential to upend how the civil space community thinks about spurring widespread commercial activity on and around the Moon within the next 10 years,” said Nayak.

According to DARPA’s press release, they plan to use the LunA-10 project and its findings to establish a commercial lunar colony with these companies’ designs by 2035 with the help of NASA.