Double Asteroid Redirection Test [DART]
Nerds and Science Geeks around the world held their collective breath as NASA slammed its DART spacecraft into an asteroid tonight.
Once upon a time, the only way we could watch space history be made is if networks cut into their regular broadcast schedule. I doubt anyone back then foresaw us riveted to smartphone screens.
I wanted to publish my thoughts on DART prior to impact tonight. Sadly, I spent the day withdrawn from life due to an infected broken molar. Words aren't flowing for me right now. It was awesome. It was fantastic. It was incredible. It was suicide by asteroid. It was the best machine soul eviction I've seen in a long while.
Jeff and I watched it together, though. (I held Angus for 15 minutes... he had to wait until we saw impact. No peeing until it ended!)
I'll try to sit down and upload something more interesting than this brief post. It will probably take a few days.
IMPACT SUCCESS! Watch from #DARTMIssion’s DRACO Camera, as the vending machine-sized spacecraft successfully collides with asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth. pic.twitter.com/7bXipPkjWD
— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2022
The image below isn't the mission patch for today's DART mission. I just thought it was a cute throwback to 2004.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), and Blacksky Corporation joined forces on the prairie lands of West Texas to fly scale versions of aerospike rocket motors.
The effort, called the Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test [DART], provided the first known data from a solid-fueled aerospike rocket in flight.
Two 10-ft. long solid-fueled rockets with aerospike nozzles were flown successfully on two consecutive flights March 30 and 31, 2004. The flights took place at the King Ranch launch site at the Pecos County Aerospace Development Corporation Flight Test Range in Fort Stockton, Texas.
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Logo: Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test (DART) |