It was one of the most unusual government agencies ever chartered. Its charge - to keep the U.S. one step ahead of the world in developing new military defense technologies. Established in 1958, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was initially created in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite one year earlier. Since then, DARPA has played a major role in developments as diverse as the Internet, unmanned probe aircraft, the M16 rifle, and the stealth fighter. In The Million Dollar Challenge, trace DARPA's fascinating history and discover some of the agency's most exciting projects, including the 2004 inaugural Grand Challenge, which offered a million-dollar prize for breakthroughs in driverless vehicle technology. Featuring exciting footage from this historic competition, HISTORY tracks the contestants' every move on the fast-paced, 142-mile course across the Mojave Desert.

Product details

Actors: Scott Holst

Producers: Dave Gibbs, Hadley Robin, Nicholas Panagopulos, Richard Jaimeyfield

Format: Color, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)

Number of discs: 1

 Not Rated

Studio: A&E Home Video

DVD Release Date: June 29, 2010

Run Time: 50 minutes