Tag: Astrotech

NASA’s DART Spacecraft Fueled in Payload Processing Facility

Technicians lower NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft onto a work stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 4, 2021. The mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 23, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg.
Technicians lower NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft onto a work stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 4, 2021. The mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 23, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg. Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Aaron Taubman

Processing of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft continues as the spacecraft was transported from the Astrotech Space Operations Facility to the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility (PPF), part of  Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Oct. 26. The following day, the spacecraft was removed from its container and technicians performed an aliveness test to confirm DART was in good health.

Inside the PPF, three days of hazardous operations will take place beginning on Oct. 28 as launch day nears. They include setup, fueling of the spacecraft with hydrazine, pressurization, and cleanup.

“Fueling is always a major milestone to reach during launch site processing because we don’t fuel until it is getting real,” said Julie Schneringer, NASA launch site integration manager. “Due to the toxicity of the fuel, we have to plan for and provide more support for this one operation more than any other single operation.”

Final closeouts will occur over the next two weeks, as DART is prepared for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg during a launch window that opens at 10:20 p.m. PST, Nov. 23 (1:20 a.m. EST, Nov. 24). When closeouts are complete, DART will be integrated with a payload adapter, encapsulated in the payload fairing, and attached to the Falcon 9 rocket to prepare for rollout to the launch pad.

DART is a spacecraft designed to impact an asteroid as a test of technology. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth. This asteroid system is a perfect testing ground to see if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, America’s multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch.

DART is directed by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and managed as a project of the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center with support from several other NASA centers: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Glenn Research Center, and Langley Research Center.

NASA’s DART Readied for its Mission to Bump an Asteroid

Illustration of the DART spacecraft with the Roll Out Solar Arrays extended.
Illustration of the DART spacecraft with the Roll Out Solar Arrays extended. Image credit: NASA

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, the first designed to deflect an asteroid, arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 2, 2021. The spacecraft was transported by truck from a cleanroom at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

Inside Astrotech, the APL team unpacked the spacecraft, performed a battery charge up, and put DART through a series of final tests and checkouts to confirm it is ready for launch. A launch countdown rehearsal of tests and operations also were completed.

“DART processing at Astrotech has been very smooth. The facility performance has been spotless, allowing the spacecraft electrical testing and non-hazardous launch preparation activities to be completed efficiently,” said Julie Schneringer, NASA launch site integration manager.

DART was transported to the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility at Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg on Oct. 26, where hazardous operations will take place, including fueling the spacecraft with hydrazine for its mission. DART will be integrated with the launch vehicle adapter and enclosed in the Falcon 9 payload fairing in preparation for launch.

DART is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. One of those technologies is the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space. DART will encounter a binary near-Earth asteroid called Didymos in late September, 2022. The spacecraft will impact the orbiting moonlet, named Dimorphos, to change its orbital period around Didymos. That change will be measured using telescopes on Earth. A few days before impact, the LICIACube, a CubeSat attached to DART, will deploy and take photos while DART impacts Dimorphos. DART has a single instrument, the Didymos Reconnaisance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), used both for navigation and to determine the properties of the kinetic impact site.

“Not only is the DART mission a planetary defense demonstration, but so much of the spacecraft itself is new technology demonstration and being a part of a mission of firsts is stimulating,” Schneringer said.

DART will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg during a launch window that opens at 10:20 p.m. PST, Nov. 23 (1:20 a.m. EST, Nov. 24). NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, America’s multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch. After the spacecraft separates from the launch vehicle, its Roll Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) will deploy to provide the solar power needed for DART’s electric propulsion system and for the spacecraft operations.

DART is directed by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and managed as a project of the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center with support from several other NASA centers: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Glenn Research Center and Langley Research Center.