Advancing Assembly of Large Structures in Space
DARPA Makes Milestone Payments to Momentus
Milestone payments have been made by DARPA to Momentus for continuing to successfully execute Phase 3 of a contract to conduct an on-orbit demonstration of the assembly of large scale structures. The mission will launch on an upcoming SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission scheduled for launch no earlier than February 2026.
“Cost-effective assembly of structures in space has the potential to transform how we operate in space."
John Rood, Momentus
Momentus recently completed several contract milestones, including the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) phase, of the DARPA Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program and has received about $1.2M in milestone payments since March 2025.
Momentus is under contract to provide full-service support to the DARPA NOM4D program, including arranging launch services, payload integration, and on-orbit hosting of the payload for a complex in-space assembly mission. The in-space assembly will be conducted on the Momentus Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle (OSV). The purpose of this effort is to validate the functionality, performance, and reliability of the in-space assembly payload in the LEO space environment. Momentus was awarded the initial NOM4D contract in April 2024 and work under the current phase of the contract is scheduled to continue through June 2025.
“We’re very happy to be supporting DARPA on this cutting-edge program and pleased to be playing a key role in executing this exciting demonstration of in-space assembly,” said Momentus Chief Executive Officer John Rood. “Cost-effective assembly of structures in space has the potential to transform how we operate in space, enabling less complex and cost-effective structures like large communications antennas, hubs for orbital manufacturing of advanced materials and potentially products like semi-conductors, and other systems.”
This mission marks Momentus’ fourth Vigoride mission and first mission supporting DARPA. During the mission, Momentus will support additional Government and commercial transportation and hosted payload customers utilizing its Vigoride 7 OSV. Due to significant demand, the company is actively planning its next mission, Vigoride 8.