NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART will demonstrate the planetary defense technique known as kinetic impact. The DART spacecraft will slam into an asteroid and shift its orbit, taking a critical step in demonstrating ways to protect our planet from a potentially hazardous impact. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth.
DART’s target is a binary asteroid system consisting of Didymos (Greek for “twin”), about a half-mile across, and its smaller companion called Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”), about 530 feet across. DART will use an autonomous targeting system to aim itself at Dimorphos. The spacecraft, roughly the size of a small car, will strike the smaller body at about 4 miles per second. Telescopes on Earth will observe the asteroid system and measure the change in Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos. A ride-along CubeSat named LICIACube, built by the Italian Space Agency, will separate from DART before impact to observe the collision.
DART is directed by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is managing the launch. The DART mission is 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.
Inside SpaceX’s Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, both halves of the Falcon 9 rocket’s protective payload fairing move toward NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on Nov. 16, 2021. The payload fairing, with the spacecraft securely inside, will be attached to the top of the Falcon 9 and will protect the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft is now encapsulated in the SpaceX payload fairings. Technicians with SpaceX installed the two halves of the fairing around the spacecraft over the course of two days, Nov. 16 and 17, inside the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The payload fairing serves as a barrier to the harsh environment of the atmosphere during DART’s launch and ascent atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
“The encapsulation event is a significant milestone in DART’s launch process as it marks the last direct access to the spacecraft and completion of all major testing milestones prior to launch,” said Joan Misner, NASA’s Launch Service Program integration engineer. “The team has worked around the clock to ensure they wouldn’t miss a thing.”
On Nov. 17, NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), SpaceX, and DART launch managers completed a Flight Readiness Review (FRR) at Vandenberg. The purpose of the FRR is to update the team on the status of the mission, close out actions from previous readiness reviews, and certify the readiness to proceed with initiation of final launch preparation activities.
DART is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg on Nov. 23 at 10:21 p.m. PST (Nov. 24 at 1:21 a.m. EST). DART is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth. LSP, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, America’s multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch.
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has been directed to manage the DART mission for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a project of the agency’s Planetary Missions Program Office. NASA provides support for the mission from several centers, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
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.
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.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART will demonstrate the planetary defense technique known as kinetic impact. The DART spacecraft will slam into an asteroid and shift its orbit, taking a critical step in demonstrating ways to protect our planet from a potentially hazardous impact. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth.
