DARPA says a California Institute of Technology payload operating in orbit has assembled a truss structure from individual components and deployed a thin reflective mesh, in what the agency describes as the first demonstration of automated in-space assembly.
According to DARPA, the Caltech payload used a gantry robot moving along three linear axes. The robot connected composite truss members with custom-designed joints while deploying the mesh. DARPA characterizes the mesh as a proof of concept for future space-based antennas.
The demonstration is intended to test a different construction model for large space systems. DARPA says such structures have generally either been fully assembled on Earth and folded to fit a launch vehicle, or manually assembled from large pieces delivered through multiple launches. In the NOM4D approach, individual members are joined section by section, with the mesh attached and completed sections deployed as assembly proceeds.
Andrew Detor, DARPA's NOM4D program manager, said the program's objective is efficient, scalable construction of very large structures in space, potentially hundreds of meters or kilometres in scale. That is a stated program objective, rather than evidence that systems at those scales have been built or qualified for operation.
DARPA presented large depots, habitats, solar arrays and radio antennas as possible future uses for systems assembled this way. The agency's announcement does not establish their economics, long-term reliability, serial production capability, or operational scalability.
The agency also said the program pivoted to an orbital demonstration after results from its second phase. Detor said 15 months elapsed between the decision to pursue an on-orbit demonstration and the launch of a working prototype.
DARPA said the Caltech payload launched at the end of March aboard SpaceX's Transporter-16 mission. Momentus hosted it on the Vigoride platform and provided launch integration, communications, power, imaging and other support services during the demonstration.
Source: https://www.darpa.mil/news/2026/nom4d-program-demonstrates-automated-in-space-assembly