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The USA Defense Department is going to the moon. I can't believe this government is actually depriving children of their lives out of poverty, but, sending the USA Defense Department to the moon. And why are they sending the Defense Department to the moon? To build moon structures that have absolutely nothing to do with the national defense of the USA. Amazing. And the USA Defense department is going to the moon because the privatized rocket people can't seem to get it done. What? The USA Defense Department is going to go to the moon to accommodate the private sector? Really? I don't think so. If I am reading this right, the people of the USA have a few problems to straighten out.
As commercial space companies (click here) increase the cadence of successful rocket launches, access to space is becoming more routine for both government and commercial interests. But even with regular launches, modern rockets impose mass and volume limits on the payloads they deliver to orbit. This size constraint hinders developing and deploying large-scale, dynamic space systems that can adapt to changes in their environment or mission.
To address this problem, DARPA today announced its Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program. The effort, pronounced “NOMAD,” seeks to pioneer technologies for adaptive, off-earth manufacturing to produce large space and lunar structures. A Proposers Day webinar for interested proposers is schedule for interested proposers is schedule for February 26, 2021. (click here)
“NOM4D’s vision is to develop foundational materials, processes, and designs needed to realize in-space manufacturing of large, precise, and resilient Defense Department systems,” said Bill Carter, program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office. “We will explore the unique advantages afforded by on-orbit manufacturing using advanced materials ferried from Earth. As an example, once we eliminate the need to survive launch, large structures such as antennas and solar panels can be substantially more weight efficient, and potentially much more precise. We will also explore the unique features of in-situ resources obtained from the moon’s surface as they apply to future defense missions. Manufacturing off-earth maximizes mass efficiency and at the same time could serve to enhance stability, agility, and adaptability for a variety of space systems.”...
