[SpaceProgram] Very good news from discussion with the DARPA 100YSS program manager tonight

[Luke Weston]

It's worth noting that DARPA contributes to heaps of cutting-edge
fundamental research that has no direct, obvious military value. Heaps
of civilian scientists at universities across the world are happily
involved in valuable civilian basic science and technology research
that attracts funding from DARPA and occasionally other DOD agencies
such as the Army Research Office, and they're certainly not just
building weapons or building better bombs or anything like that.

Well known examples would include the DARPA Grand Challenge for
autonomous vehicle research, and a lot of quantum computing and
quantum communications research, for example a lot of the research
done by the universities affiliated with the ARC Centre for Quantum
Computer Technology in Australia (http://www.cqc2t.org/), as well as
this for example:
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2010/11/new-initiative-to-develop-a-system-that-controls-prosthetic-limbs-naturally/

Cheers,
  Luke