Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: Government / agency (United States), launches, rockets and satellites

Industry / Companies / Department of Defense / Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

0Orbital launches

2All launches (incl. suborbital)

12Satellites in orbit

4Satellites built

0Rockets / spacecraft

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is a government organisation based in the United States, founded in 1958. Our records show 2 launches and 12 satellites in orbit.

Official website · Wikipedia · Part of Department of Defense · More from United States

Sources disagree.
Founding year: Launch Library 2 says 1958; GCAT (J. McDowell) says 1972
We show the value from the most detailed source and flag the difference instead of guessing.

Satellites in orbit

By platform

X-SAT	3
Ministar	2
GLOMR	1
Picosat	1
OSC-Micro	1
LMSC-Micro	1
NRL-US	1
SIMPL	1

Recent launches

Date	Mission	Vehicle	Site	Result
16 Apr 2004	Dummy Scramjet	Terrier Orion	Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia	Success
18 Oct 2003	Dummy Scramjet	Terrier Mk 70 Orion	Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia	Success

In the news

Recent headlines

Redwire Wins $20M DARPA Contract for Second VLEO Demo Payload · 5 Nov 2026
Space Nuclear Power Corporation Awarded DARPA Agreement for Ground Test of Autonomous Nuclear Reactor Controller SpaceNews · 21 Oct 2026
SpaceX launches Northrop mission to extend the life of aging satellites SpaceNews · 21 Jul 2026
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch novel geosynchronous robotic servicing satellite on decade-long mission Spaceflight Now · 21 Jul 2026
DARPA to explore ways to rapidly rebuild satellite networks if attacked SpaceNews · 15 Jun 2026
Voyager wins DARPA contract for solid rocket propellant technology SpaceNews · 26 May 2026
DARPA taps Raytheon for new maritime defense system SpaceDaily · 4 Feb 2026
Quantum camera startup plans satellite and telescope constellations SpaceDaily · 14 Jan 2026
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems SpaceDaily · 16 Dec 2025
BAE Systems wins $16 million DARPA award to advance autonomous satellite tasking SpaceNews · 11 Dec 2025

Matched by name; a headline may mention this organisation without being about it. All headlines.

Provenance

Where this comes from

This entry merges 2 sources: Launch Library 2 · GCAT (J. McDowell)
Verification status: cross-checked across sources, not yet reviewed by a person. How we build and check this data.

Launch and satellite data: Jonathan McDowell's GCAT (CC BY 4.0) and CelesTrak. Rockets, spacecraft and agencies: Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs and Wikidata. News headlines link to their publishers via the Spaceflight News API and RSS feeds. Records come from several sources and are matched automatically, so treat the directory as a research aid, not an authority. How the data is built and checked.