The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency‘s fiscal year 2019 budget request includes $254.7 million to fund various space programs such as an experimental space plane, a launch competition and an on-orbit satellite servicing platform, Parabolic Arc reported Friday.DARPA seeks $62 million for the Experimental Spaceplane One program to fund Boeing‘s ongoing efforts to build a launch vehicle that can be flown 10 times in 10 days.
The agency also requested $5 million for the DARPA Launch Challenge, which aims to test the capacity to launch satellites quickly, switch sites and then lift off again.
Under the budget request, the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program will receive $109 million to support the development, test and integration of a robotic system that will work to sustain spacecraft in the geosynchronous orbit.
DARPA also wants $42 million for the Radar Net project that will work to develop lightweight, low-power, wideband capability for radio frequency communications and remote sensing for a space-based platform.
The request allocates a total of $37 million to four space technology programs including Blackjack, Planar Imager, Hallmark and Advanced Space Technology Concepts.
