earth science

NOMARS

NOMARS is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NOMARS rather than just read about it. In short: NOMARS (No Manning Required, Ship) is a concept for a range of ships and smaller watercraft operating as unmanned surface vessels (USV) for the US Department of Defense, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The USV concept crafts range in size and form.

Key takeaways

NOMARS belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NOMARS to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NOMARS from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NOMARS (No Manning Required, Ship) is a concept for a range of ships and smaller watercraft operating as unmanned surface vessels (USV) for the US Department of Defense, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The USV concept crafts range in size and form. Examples include:

Sea Hunter, a DARPA-developed trimaran USV launched in 2016. A dual hulled platform, proposed in a concept by Austal USA. A single hulled missile ship with a propulsor and steering pod.

By removing the human element from all ship design considerations, NOMARS will demonstrate significant advantages, to include size, cost (procurement, operations, and sustainment), at-sea reliability, survivability to sea-state, survivability to adversary actions (stealth considerations, resistance to tampering, etc.), and hydrodynamic efficiency (hull optimization without consideration for crew safety or comfort). In 2022, ship designer Serco was selected to develop the NOMARS program through building, testing, and demonstrating the first generation ship. In December 2024, NOMARS completed a successful first test of at-sea refueling designed for use with the USV Defiant. USX-1 Defiant, the 180-foot-long, 240-metric ton medium USV, was first seen in public in March 2025 near the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island. USX-1 Defiant does not have any mission or combat systems installed onboard and will conduct sea trials in the spring of 2025.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NOMARS

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NOMARS claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NOMARS before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NOMARS ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NOMARS

In research: NOMARS appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NOMARS in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NOMARS is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Autonomous ships, DARPA projects, Oceanographic instrumentation, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NOMARS outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study NOMARS in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NOMARS means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NOMARS out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NOMARS in simple terms?

Why does NOMARS matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NOMARS?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NOMARS.