Anthony Tether, director of the Department of Defense research agency, on Monday discussed DARPA's past and future on the opening day of the 18th annual Small Satellites Conference at Utah State University.

One reason for today's bulky satellites is that they must take years worth of fuel with them to operate for their intended mission length. Tether said refueling satellites, essentially orbiting gas stations for satellites, could provide a solution,

In 2006, DARPA plans to launch a satellite and a refueling station to test the concept. The two components would have to find each other automatically and link up without aid of a human operator to make the system viable.

Tether explained that among DARPA's missions is to take on seemingly impossible tasks, the ones other research institutions won't touch. Scientists, many times without an established reputation, come for a few years to try new ideas.

"They can come to DARPA and take tremendous risks," Tether said. "They can afford to screw up because they don't have a career."

DARPA was started shortly after the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, becoming the first nation to launch a satellite in space. Tether said he remembers hearing Sputnik's beep on his ham radio set.

"It was a beep that woke up the world," he said.

DARPA's response to Sputnik was a satellite launched in 1958 that broadcast a recording from President Eisenhower.

Since then, DARPA has been directed away from and back toward space research several times. For the last few years, space has been back on the agenda.

While Tether said it is great to have cheap, small satellites, they lose their benefit if they cost millions to actually launch into space.

"The launch rate of small satellites is not quite what it should be," said USU President Kermit Hall as he helped open the four-day conference that includes more than 700 academic, industry, government and military representatives.

Tether said several DARPA projects are aimed at creating launch systems that could help lower launch costs. The Falcon project would include a vehicle that takes off from a runway before boosting a payload into orbit.

glavine@sltrib.com