DARPA won't be building a giant laser cannon in space. Nope. No Death Star. Instead, the project MOIRE's aim is to construct and launch a number of geo-synchronous satellites which will house Earth facing telescopes.

MOIRE is a collapsible structure housing a thin membrane optic which has been etched with a diffractive pattern. Light is captured on the optic and focused onto a sensor which can be translated into an HD image. Some of MOIRE's optical membrane will be transported to space as part of the USAF's FalconSAT-7 program.

So relax, it's not a giant death ray. Check out the concept video below:

[DARPA]