DARPA Wants Your Ideas for ‘Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures’

Hey so, random question, but do you have any ideas for large-scale, novel biomechanical structures that can be grown in microgravity that you’ve been sitting on? Just asking on behalf of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which put out a Request for Information (RFI) this week seeking public input on its plan to create “large bio-mechanical space structures.”

DARPA, which regularly dabbles in trying to turn science fiction into science, says that it is interested in exploring ways to “grow” biological structures of “unprecedented size”— up to 500 meters in length or larger—that could be used to build infrastructure in space. Per the agency’s RFI, it’s hoping to develop structures that would “position biology as a complementary component of the in-space assembly infrastructure,” which certainly sounds ambitious!

In order to get your gears turning (I believe brain gears would count as a bio-mechanical structure), DARPA did offer a couple of ideas of what it has in mind for “structures that could be biologically manufactured and assembled.” They include tethers for a space elevator, grid-nets to catch orbital debris, large-scale interferometers (tools that use electromagnetic interference to measure waves) for radio science, space station wings, and on-demand adhesive patch materials to repair damage on the fly.

To give a better idea of what DARPA thinks this might ultimately look like, the agency said it’s worth imagining a tent as an analogy. “Given the structural material of the tent poles, biological growth mechanisms are envisioned to be the ‘cover’ of the tent. The tent can be shaped a particular way by the underlying poles, and when embedded with appropriate electronics, perform a given function.” Surely that clears things up for you, right?

Now, perhaps this whole thing gives you Lovecraftian vibes or conjures up something that you might see if you could peer into John Carpenter’s mind. But presumably, DARPA would like something that does not elicit unending fear and terror that suggests we have manufactured a horribly brilliant material for which we cannot control nor escape—they did not specify that, but let’s assume it’s implied. To me, it sounds much more like someone at DARPA got really into Megalopolis and would like to make Megalon, the bio-adaptive building material that Adam Driver wants to use to create a utopia.

We’ll get a better idea of exactly what DARPA has in mind in April, as the agency plans to host a workshop in the Bay Area where it’ll discuss research relevant to its goal of creating large bio-mechanical space structures. If you happen to have some sort of naturally growing material that can be molded into a scalable structure, book a flight to San Francisco so you can show DARPA what you’ve got.