DARPA Demonstrates Automated Assembly of Space Structures in Orbit
DARPA’s NOM4D program used a Caltech payload to assemble a truss and deploy reflective mesh in orbit, demonstrating a potential way to build large structures beyond launch-vehicle packaging limits. The program is nearing completion, with a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign composite-processing experiment planned for the ISS later in 2026; no active solicitation or follow-on contract is identified.