The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations

by Daniel Yergin

DARPA had been established in 1958, in response to the Soviets beating the United States into space with Sputnik, the first satellite. Its mission was to ensure that the United States would from then on be “the initiator and not the victim of strategic technological surprises.” Working with universities and industry, it funded frontier research “in breakthrough technologies for national security.” Its extraordinary record extended from advanced computing and stealth bombers to GPS systems. At the beginning of this century, DARPA decided to offer cash prizes to fire up competitive juices for developing “autonomous ground vehicles.” But the first Grand Challenge, held in 2004, was a flop. The best that any vehicle could manage was just 7.5 miles on the 142-mile course in the rugged desert on the California-Nevada border.