Science & Technology

DARPA requests large underground facilities

By T.K. Randall
August 30, 2019

Image: AI-generated (Bing AI / Dall-E 3) When it comes to the development of experimental 'out there' technologies, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is at the forefront, with some of its more recent projects including telepathic stealth drones, bionic arms and even a way to slow down biological time.

Many people were intrigued therefore when the agency recently put out an urgent request for "underground urban tunnels and facilities able to host research and experimentation."

The request was on such short notice in fact that it required the facilities within just ten days.

What on Earth was DARPA doing for it to have such sudden need of such a thing ?While the news did manage to generate a great deal of speculation on social media, the answer, it turns out, is that DARPA needed the facilities for the "urban" round of its "Subterranean Challenge" - a team-based competition designed to promote the development of technologies capable of navigating previously unexplored underground spaces.

"As teams prepare for the SubT Challenge Urban Circuit, the program recognizes it can be difficult for them to find locations suitable to test their systems and sensors," DARPA Chief of Communications Jared Adams told Live Science in an email.

"DARPA issued this [request] in part to help identify potential representative environments where teams may be able to test in advance of the upcoming event."

Attention, city dwellers! We're interested in identifying university-owned or commercially managed underground urban tunnels & facilities able to host research & experimentation. https://t.co/tHZ1Tqy5nV

It's short notice... We're asking for responses by Aug. 30 at 5:00 PM ET. pic.twitter.com/TSWO07bJam

— DARPA (@DARPA) August 28, 2019

Source: Live Science

Tags: DARPA