DART Test Mission Fails due to Fuel Problem

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched its ambitious DART craft from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on Friday. It was due to rely on an autopilot, Global Positioning System satellite signals, and a new laser-guidance device to steer within few feet of a satellite. However, the mission was aborted in between due to technical snags leading to fuel supplies giving out early.

DART stands for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology and this latest mission reached around 300 feet of its target before giving up. The mission costed NASA USD 110 millions as the failure was confirmed by NASA project manager Jim Snoddy through a telephone news conference.

The American space agency is now busy analyzing why the craft gave up in between. As per the official word, DART satellite had an unexpectedly high number of navigational errors. However, it is not confirmed whether that led to the higher fuel consumption. However, Snoddy was still optimistic about this experiment as he said: “A lot of the objectives were met, although the primary objectives were not”.

NASA is working on such projects to develop technologies to help them demonstrate an automated rendezvous technology. This is being done to help them send human explorers to the moon and Mars on extended missions.