DARPA and University of Utah Develop Test Bed to Boost Rare Earth Element Supply
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the University of Utah are collaborating to create the Strategic Materials Accelerator & Research Test Bed (SMART). This initiative aims to enhance the supply of rare earth elements (REEs) and other strategic materials within the United States. The SMART test bed is designed to foster the development and scaling of new technologies for identifying, extracting, and processing these vital resources. This effort is part of a broader strategy to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign sources for REEs, which are crucial for various military applications, including jet engines, semiconductors, and missile guidance systems. Additionally, REEs are essential for permanent magnets used in mobile phones and other technologies. The program will initially support teams from the Environmental Microbes as a Bioengineering Resource (EMBER) program, focusing on 'biomining' techniques to extract REEs from domestic sources such as electronics recycling processes and mine was... 
