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DART Succumbs to Fuel Problems

Posted by timothy on from the well-there-went-my-tax-payment dept.

qw0ntum writes "The AP reports that NASA's experimental DART (Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology) spacecraft mission ended early when the craft's onboard computers detected a fuel-system problem. The craft, which was entirely computer-controlled, came within 300 feet of its target rendezvous target, a Pentagon satelite, before detecting the problem. Despite the failure, mission leaders 'called the mission a partial success because it demonstrated that an entirely computer-controlled craft could find a satellite in space.'"

2 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. They should do this mission again by TheKidWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They really should, in space rendevous is going to be a very important technology in the future, especially when the CEV needs to be assembled in orbit for a trip to the moon or mars, much easier to have it autonomously done.

    And this time, launch the thing off of a Falcon 1, not a $30million pegasus.

  2. Lessons learned? by helioquake · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This partial failure is to show that it is not an easy stuff to launch a satellite and let it autonomously dock itself to another object.

    Imagine doing something similiar with the Hubble. Though it'd not be totally autonomous, many things could go wrong in the repair/deorbit mission, which can lead to a disaster. This is why, I think that, at the end the Hubble would be serviced by astronauts to prepare its deorbit.