llbbl
10-26-2004, 09:11 AM
This is an unmanned vechile capable of servicing other satellites. The launch method is similar to that that spacshipone uses.
DART, short for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, is expected to launch from the air atop a four-stage Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket at 2:13:20 p.m. EDT (1813:20 GMT) in a flight staged from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base. A former passenger jet, Stargazer L-1011, will carry the rocket into launch position 40,000 feet (12,192 meters) above the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/dart_prelaunch_041025.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/61386main_dart2.gif
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/dart_into_space.html
The computer-guided DART spacecraft will be equipped with an Advanced Video Guidance Sensor and a Global Positioning System (GPS) that can receive signals from other spacecraft to allow DART to move within approximately 330 feet of the target.
Once DART has reached that range, the spacecraft will use navigation data from its sensors to perform rendezvous maneuvers with the target. These sensors actually have a range of approximately 985 feet, overlapping with the GPS system.
DART, short for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, is expected to launch from the air atop a four-stage Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket at 2:13:20 p.m. EDT (1813:20 GMT) in a flight staged from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base. A former passenger jet, Stargazer L-1011, will carry the rocket into launch position 40,000 feet (12,192 meters) above the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/dart_prelaunch_041025.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/61386main_dart2.gif
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/dart_into_space.html
The computer-guided DART spacecraft will be equipped with an Advanced Video Guidance Sensor and a Global Positioning System (GPS) that can receive signals from other spacecraft to allow DART to move within approximately 330 feet of the target.
Once DART has reached that range, the spacecraft will use navigation data from its sensors to perform rendezvous maneuvers with the target. These sensors actually have a range of approximately 985 feet, overlapping with the GPS system.