The Double Asteroid Redirection Test also known as DART is directed by NASA to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) with support from several other NASA centers.

DART is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid.

This mission will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space.

The spacecraft will achieve the impact deflection by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s, with the aid of an onboard camera (named DRACO) and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. The collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one percent, but this will change the orbital period of the moonlet by several minutes - enough to be observed and measured using telescopes back on Earth.

The Italian Space Agency will be sending a secondary spacecraft called LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids), a small CubeSat that will piggyback with DART and will separate shortly before impact to acquire images of the impact and debris as it drifts past the asteroid.

LICIACube will communicate directly with Earth, sending back images of the debris after the asteroid flyby.

Once launched, DART will deploy Roll Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) to provide the solar power needed for DART’s electric propulsion system. The DART spacecraft will demonstrate the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster – Commercial (NEXT-C)solar electric propulsion system as part of its in-space propulsion. NEXT-C is a next-generation system based on the Dawn spacecraft propulsion system and was developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. By utilizing electric propulsion, DART could benefit from significant flexibility to the mission timeline while demonstrating the next generation of ion engine technology, with applications to potential future NASA missions. (courtesy of NASA)

Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.

Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket.

Stats

Total launches: 395

Total landings: 351

Total reflights: 326

The Falcon 9 has launched 52 humans into orbit since May 2020

Specs

Height: 70 m / 229.6 ft

Diameter: 3.7 m / 12 ft

Mass: 549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb

Payload to Low Earth Orbit (LEO): 22,800 kg / 50,265 lb

Payload to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO): 8,300 kg / 18,300 lb

Payload to Mars: 4,020 kg / 8,860 lb

On January 24, 2021, Falcon 9 launched the first ride-share mission to Sun Synchronous Orbit. It was delivering a record-setting 143 satellites to space. And while this was an important mission for SpaceX in itself, it was also the moment Falcon 9 overtook United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V for the total number of consecutive successful launches.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 had become America’s workhorse rocket, launching 31 times in 2021. It has already beaten that record this year, launching almost an average of once a week. While most of the launches deliver Starlink satellites to orbit, the company is still launching the most commercial payloads to orbit, too.

Falcon 9 is a medium-lift launch vehicle, with the capability to launch over 22.8 metric tonnes to low earth orbit. Unlike any other rocket, its first stage lands back on Earth after separating from its second stage. In part, this allows SpaceX to offer the cheapest option for most customers with payloads that need to reach orbit.

Under its ride-share program, a kilogram can be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit for a mere 1.1 million dollars, far cheaper than all other currently operating small satellite launch vehicles.

The reusability and fast booster turnaround times have made Falcon 9 the preferred choice for private companies and government agencies. This has allowed SpaceX to capture a huge portion of the launch market.

Photo courtesy of Jenny Hautmann for Supercluster.

Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base is SpaceX’s west coast launch and landing facility. The launch pad is named SLC-4E (as it is the easternmost of the two areas).

Satellite image of the facility and surrounding area provided by SkyFi. With mobile and web apps, SkiFi is making it easier than ever to access Earth Observation data and analytics.

Originally built in the early 1960s for Atlas-Agena rockets, SLC-4E served that rocket line until 1967, when it was taken offline and then rebuilt for the Titan IIID rockets.

It launched the Titan IIID from 1971 to 1988, after which it was reconfigured and used for the Titan IV between 1991 and 2005.

SpaceX leased SLC-4E in 2011 and spent two years rebuilding the pad for the Falcon 9 rocket.

The pad exclusively launched Falcon 9 polar missions from 2013 to 2019.  However, in 2020, SpaceX began splitting those launches between Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral after the Air Force agreed to allow polar launches from Florida after a 51-year ban (because of the then-dangers of overflying Cuba during launch).

Despite new launch opportunities from Florida, SpaceX is not abandoning Vandenberg; many more launches are planned from this location.

"Of Course I Still Love You" (OCISLY) is one of SpaceX’s Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships used to recover Falcon 9 rocket boosters from the ocean. Like its sister ships, "Just Read the Instructions" (JRTI) and "A Shortfall of Gravitas" (ASOG), OCISLY plays a crucial role in SpaceX’s reusability program, which aims to make spaceflight more cost-effective and sustainable.

The name "Of Course I Still Love You" is inspired by science fiction author Iain M. Banks' Culture series, known for its imaginative and whimsical ship names. This naming theme extends to SpaceX's other drone ships.

OCISLY originally operated in the Atlantic Ocean, primarily from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It has since been retired and replaced by ASOG in the Atlantic, with its operations shifting to the Pacific Ocean.

Equipped with advanced navigation systems and thrusters for precise positioning, OCISLY featured a large landing platform designed for recovering rocket boosters at sea. It was instrumental in supporting missions where boosters couldn’t return to solid ground, enabling SpaceX to reuse rocket stages and contribute to lowering costs and improving the sustainability of space missions.

The mission's target is 65803 Didymos, a small asteroid system in which one asteroid is orbited by a smaller one. The primary asteroid (Didymos A) is about 780 m (2,560 ft) in diameter; its small satellite Dimorphos (Didymos B) is about 160 m (520 ft) in diameter and orbits about 1 km from the primary asteroid. DART will be targeting the smaller asteroid, Dimorphos.

It will take just over one full year for the DART mission to arrive at its destination asteroid with the impact scheduled for October 2022.

As a note, these asteroids are not Earth-crossing, and there is no possibility that the deflection could create an impact hazard.

Photo: Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft Credit: NASA