17 Coolest DARPA Projects, Ranked

While many people claim to be the originators of what's now the InternetThe InternetDARPA did not create the Internet without research and development.

In August 1962, American psychologist and computer scientist JCR Licklider wrote "On-Line Man Computer Communication," a paper describing a global network of computers that could talk to each other.

Months later, he became director of the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) at ARPA, then DARPA. He tasked this office with building a network linking Department of Defense computers across sites; other Internet pioneers joined his team.

The first host-to-host connection between PCs on Arpanet formed at 10:30 p.m. on October 29, 1969. By December, a four-node network was active. The first email crossed it in 1972, and users called it the "Internet" in 1973.

Star TrekDARPA inspires tech from Star Trek, like the universal translator that lets alien races speak English.

DARPA funded the tech that powers Google Maps and Street View. In 1978, an MIT team developed a way for soldiers to map cities, inspired by Israel building an Entebbe Airport mockup in Uganda.

After Sputnik launched in October 1957, two US physicists at the Applied Physics Lab (APL) found they could locate the Soviet satellite using radio signals and the Doppler effect.

DARPA used this tech for Polaris missile research, needing to locate submarines carrying the missile. Seven years later, the TRANSIT system, later NAVSAT, began operating as the first satellite navigation system. DARPA shut it down two years after GPS became fully operational in 1994. DARPA works on thenext generationof GPS, a system called ASPN, which will offer more flexible and accurate technology than current systems.

DARPA funded and developed all tech for the F-117 stealth fighter, B-2 stealth bomber, and future planes like the F-22.

Stealth development began in the early 1970s.DARPA developed "Project Harvey," an effort to create a plane with the smallest radar cross section. Lockheed worked on the project." Have Blue" radar-evading aircraft first flew in 1977. This prototype led directly to the F-117.

Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) will be the first smart, self-guided bullets. These bullets can change direction after firing using lasers on a target.Self-Guided Bullets feature optical tips that detect signatures. Signals send these to tiny fins, guiding the bullet toward the laser signature, even changing its path mid-flight.

In 2014, the Pentagon...The Pentagon successfully conducted a live-fire test using EXACTO rounds. More research continues, but details remain classified.Researchers currently conduct research on this test, though exact details are classified.

DARPA develops small, efficient laser weapons to reduce damage from close-quarters urban fights. These weapons will be 10 times lighter than existing ship-based anti-missile lasers.

The Project Excalibur laser fired in 2014, hitting a target 7 kilometers away. Researchers continue to perfect and shrink the tech, aiming for a 100 kilowatt laser that hits targets in space.

DARPA researchers investigate communication links between the human brain and machines. These links can build, assist, augment, or repair human cognitive or sensory-motor functions.

Research on brain-machine interfaces started in the 1970s. DARPA focuses on neuroprosthetics that restore sight or control limb movements. Proto2 is one promising project.Proto2.Proto2 is a thought-controlled prosthetic arm with a dexterous hand and fingers capable of 25 joint motions.

In 2009, DARPA issued a challenge: build the fastest, highest-performing, mobile computer system. It must use minimal energy and operate at unimaginable speeds, requiring no special training.

In 2008, DARPA-funded researchers built the world's smallest...DARPA-funded researchers created the world's smallest vacuum pump system in 2008.The Chip-Scale Vacuum Micro Pumps (CSVMP) program develops the smallest, most power-efficient pumps for electronics or sensors needing a vacuum. This applies to chemical sensors and tiny drones.

Researchers at the University of Michigan, MIT, and Honeywell International contributed to the work. They unveiled the tiny pumps in 2013.

Most people saw James Cameron's...Avatar.People marveled at Avatar's immersive 3-D world. DARPA watched it and saw the future: human-controlled combat machines that fight in harsh areas without risking operators.human-controlled combat machinesThese machines fight in harsh environments without risking their operators.

DARPA announced the Falcon Project in 2003 as a joint venture with the U.S. Air Force to develop a reusable, unmanned, rapid-strike hypersonic vehicle.

A prototype Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) flew first in April 2010 and again in August 2011. The arrow-shaped drone flew at Mach 20, over 22 times faster than commercial jets. Both flights yielded much data, but operators lost contact.Operators lost contact during the two flights of the HTV-2 prototype.Both HTV-2 prototypes were presumed lost, likely due to the extreme heat from their speed.

In July 2013, DARPA confirmed it would not conduct a third flight of the HTV-2 and stopped work on Falcon and other projects.Prompt Global Strike.This includes other hypersonic aircraft. The Falcon might stop flying, but its history continues.

Online privacy advocates push the Tor privacy service. Using Tor with the Tor private browser offers possibly the most anonymous Internet access—it made the Dark Web possible.

The core idea behind Tor, "onion routing," got funding from the US Office of Naval Research in 1995. DARPA spurred the technology's development.DARPA spurred the technology's development.The Tor network appeared three years later, a direct result of this DARPA-funded work in 1997.

DARPA unveiled the Atlas project on July 11, 2013. The bipedal humanoid robot stands six feet tall (1.8 m). It assists emergency services, including search and rescue, in dangerous or hazardous areas. Since its start, Atlas has been retooled and improved.DARPA retooled and improved Atlas.They added new hydraulics and a lithium-ion battery.

Your Atlas Robot needs a best friend. DARPA can help with that too.

DARPA introduced the Legged Squad Support System (LS3). This military variant of the civilian BigDog is a mobile, semi-autonomous, four-legged robot. It functions as a beast of burden on the battlefield.

LS3 can.LS3 currently goesIt carries 70% to 80% of the places troops walk. It carries hundreds of pounds of gear and scouts missions too dangerous for humans. Troops already deployed LS3 in exercises; they also explore it as a weapons-carrying system. Missile-packed robot dogs? DARPA provided this.

Remember the Antonov A-40 Flying Tank? The Soviets developed it in the '30s to quickly move armor on the battlefield. DARPA works on a better version: theTransformer project.This project transitioned into ARES.ARES.The four-person vehicle drives normally and takes to the skies to avoid road blockages, getting firepower where it is needed fast.

The ARES vehicle designs to take off and land vertically. It can fly up to 250 nautical miles on one fuel tank. People hope an armada of flying tanks helps counterinsurgency, medical evacuations, and more.

Microchips in soldiers' brains sound like a hardcore paranoid theory. DARPA works on just this project. Suchneural interfacesThese interfaces could boost performance during training and repair brain injuries and PTSD.