DART (spacecraft)

DART, or Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, was a NASA sponsored project with the goal to develop and demonstrate an automated navigation and rendezvous capability in a NASA spacecraft. At the time of the DART mission, only the Russian Space Agency and JAXA (formerly NASDA) had autonomous space craft navigation. Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) was the prime contractor for construction, launch and operation of the DART vehicle with a project cost of $95 million US(2005). The contract was awarded in June 2001 and the spacecraft was launched on April 15, 2005. The mission ended prematurely, very shortly after an anomalous slow-velocity collision with its target spacecraft, having completed less than half of the original mission autonomous rendezvous objectives.

DART was launched on a Pegasus rocket into a polar circular parking orbit of 760 km × 770 km (472 mi × 478 mi) and has International Designator 2005-014-A. The craft is 2 by 1 metre (7 by 3 feet) and weighs 360 kg (790 lb). The maneuvering system comprised 16 nitrogen-fueled thrusters with three hydrazine-fueled thrusters and a reaction control system including six nitrogen-fueled thrusters from the Pegasus fourth stage, which forms an integral part of the craft. The target spacecraft was an OSC MUBLCOM (Multiple-Path Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications) prototype communications relay satellite weighing approximately 49 kg (108 lb) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 18 May 1999 with International Designator 1999-026-B.

After launch, DART successfully achieved orbit and within hours made a rendezvous with the target satellite. The automated systems aboard DART successfully acquired the target and began autonomously approaching it. During proximity operations, multiple malfunctions in navigation, propellant management and collision avoidance programming led to a soft collision with the target and premature departure and retirement of the DART spacecraft.

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