Four DARPA Projects That Could Be Bigger Than The Internet

Defense One ^ | March 20, 2014 | Patrick Tucker

[Veggie Todd]

Four DARPA Projects That Could Be Bigger Than The Internet

Al Gore says, "BS!".

[raj bhatia]

DARPA is an under appreciated gem involved in funding some superb research work at universities. It would be great to see their budget increase in a big way over the next few years. We desperately need good research into the basic physics of some really exciting materials.

[sunrise_sunset]

I thought government couldn’t do anything well ?

[steve86]

It would be great to see their budget increase in a big way over the next few years.

Amazing how some so-called conservatives are willing to spend OPM, especially when they're hoping to get part of the action.

[Organic Panic]

A border fence that keeps illegal invaders away...

[Nifster]

From item two “On the civilian side, because THz radiation, unlike X-ray radiation, is non-invasive,...” Nonsense. THz radiation penetrates the derma and is known to cause damage to DNA. It is one reason that people raised holy hem when THz scanners were introduced at the airport.

Generally this blog bit is the pretty picture version of very dangerous things

[publius911]

I thought government couldn’t do anything well ?

It still doesn't.
If politics invaded DARPA, the way they have invaded every other federal agency, and micromanaged research oblivious to the "scientific method," (e.g. Global Warming) we would still be communicating using flags.

[raj bhatia]

You are right. Let’s spend some on securing Nouri Al Maliki. It’s amazing how many so-called conservatives sub-ordinate everything to the belly.

[nathanbedford]

When I first read raj bhatia's comment I had the same reaction you did, how can we as conservatives countenance pouring federal money by the hundreds of billions into "pure research?" What is the difference between that and pumping billions into Solandra?

Obama has indulged in crony capitalism to the ruin of our American system and it cannot be tolerated if we are as a country to emerge from this mess as a capitalist country. Yet, if we do not accomplish these goals through research we are liable to be looking at the wrong side of history written in Chinese characters and we will not like what we cannot read. We have to be honest with ourselves and concede that we have an Internet partly because the government "built that" and we have a defense budget which pumps hundreds of billions of dollars every year into procurement and much into pure research.

Evidently, the question comes down to, whose research will we have, Barack Obama's or that which we need to give America the strongest military power on earth?

We cannot afford to stay out of the space race and it's going to cost billions of dollars to reenter. The whole idea of facing off against Chinese missiles with vulnerable aircraft carriers is rapidly becoming obsolete. The next war will be won, or better, the next war will be avoided, because we have spent the money and kept a decisive and recognizable edge in the technology that matters.

On the domestic side, we have got to break away from this Ponzi scheme in which we try to sustain a top heavy welfare state with programs like Social Security by flooding the country with unskilled workers. Goods and services are increasingly going to be delivered to us by robots and drones and unskilled, illiterate, politically naïve, immigrants will be a burden and not a salvation. Hence, we need a way of replacing human labor with technology. That means that technology will have to be researched and funded. Put another way, human labor is increasingly and inevitably going to be replaced by technology, how do we cope with the social consequences and remain a representative democracy committed to individual liberty?

Some of that funding will have to come from the government whether it be for domestic or for military needs. The question is how do we control it? This is a question not dissimilar from that which confronted the founding fathers when they sought to write a constitution which would permit a government which was effective and powerful in the areas where it had legitimate competency but was checked, controlled and even walled off from areas which were not legitimate, which belonged to the states or to the people, and which might lead to tyranny if the government were not controlled or the problem were not managed.

How do we keep the likes of Barack Obama from getting his hands on this money and misdirecting it while at the same time providing for the fundamental needs of a modern nation in a modern economy?

It will not do to throw money at these problems, nor will it do to stick our heads in the sand and deny all government involvement. We must solve the riddle just as the founding fathers and the framers solved the riddle with a solution that lasted until about a generation or two ago.

[AZLiberty]

This particular branch of government, DARPA, has figured out how to set goals and then incentivize the private sector to achieve them. With guidance from the private sector DARPA figures out what needs to be done. Then they allocate funding and dole it out to private companies. Most importantly, unlike most military procurement, they tell companies WHAT they want, but NOT how to achieve it. Money is given not to favored congressional districts but to the best researchers with the best proposals.

[alpo]

Number 4 could show ‘Global Warming/Climate change’ is all BS in about
5 minutes.

[EEGator]

I will gladly take the title of “so-called conservative” to defend DARPA. They are a net benefit.

[taildragger]

We tend to be for a smaller federal spending footprint here on FR.

But this block of money 2 years ago caught my eye and could be the best 30 million spent in R & D if it truly yields the results they are looking for, not the pie in the sky of this DARPA push.

In total, the quest for a low cost pump @ your home or business ( After all we do have a Natural Gas Infrastructure, at home literally in many parts of the country) filling a normal shaped fuel tank with decent range is a bigger game changer than we know IMHO.

http://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=projects%2Fsearch-projects&field_program_tid=893&field_project_state_value=All&term_node_tid_depth=740

Look at the chart below for a who's who of what is being researched...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/07/move-20120712.html

[SunkenCiv]

Space exploration also grew directly out of defense spending — including the F1 engines used on the Saturn V.

[Hot Tabasco]

And a little known division of Lockheed known as Skunkworks has provided some incredible technology, paid in part with govt. funding.

[ckilmer]

Its a shame that DARPA does not concentrate on the two most strategic technologies for the USA and the world today.
1.)4th generation portable nuclear power plants including all the lftr variants.
2.) Semipermeable membranes for desalination plants —membranes that allow passage of fresh water but leave behind salt at room temperature and pressure. membranes that are /cheap to build/cheap to maintain/versatile for all salt water types.

The optimization of these two technologies would collapse the cost of water and energy around the world and enable desert farming the world over. Therefor they would double the size of the habitable planet.

[Dead Corpse]

It can’t. Which is why some of these projects get fed billions of dollars over decades instead of millions over years.

[Dead Corpse]

Yep. I’m glad we have a working orbital space station and a permanent presence on the moon. All within projected budgets.

Oh... Wait...

[Wyatt's Torch]

Agree. they do great work.