DART aims at

DART will be the first spacecraft to perform a rendezvous without human assistance. Its autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations software will test additional algorithms by calculating and executing collision avoidance maneuvers and circumnavigation. To conclude the mission, DART will fly away from the MUBLCOM satellite (left).

ASAs Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technologies (DART) space experiment will test the sensors, propulsion systems, and software that future U.S. spacecraft will need for conducting complicated maneuvers in close proximity to other spacecraft, without any help from human controllers or astronauts. The mission was delayed last November when Orbital Sciences, the prime contractor for both DART and its Pegasus launch vehicle, informed NASA that it had new data suggesting that DARTs ride to orbit might be rougher than expected. Jim Snoddy, the DART program manager at NASA Marshall, resolved the issue by ordering new hardware tests that showed DART could survive the rougher ride. The mission is now scheduled for launch this month. In orbit, DART will attempt to locate a 47-kg retired military satellite and use on-board computers and propulsion systems to perform a series of maneuvers around it. The mission will last 16-24 hr, depending on how long it takes DART to catch up to the target spacecraft. The chase time could be as long as 9.5 hr, depending on the date of launch and how accurately Orbitals L-1011 carrier jet releases the air-launched Pegasus rocket.

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space rendezvous
NASAs on-orbit experiment may soon lead to the first fully automated dockings of U.S. spacecraft

The DART technologies will be valuable for both human missions to deep space and military satellite operations in Earth orbit, say DART officials. On the civilian side, the technologies are now funded under the space exploration vision announced by President Bush. The technology could enable the first fully automated dockings between U.S. spacecraft. Autonomy will be essential in deep space because of the time it would take communications signals to cross millions of kilometers of space. That time lag makes it impossible for controllers on the ground to orchestrate dockings or a rendezvous at great distances. In addition, there is always the possibility that astronauts might be injured or sick and unable to guide a cargo craft to a docking, Snoddy says. In Earth orbit, the technologies could enable DOD to spy on rival satellites up close, the official says. For DART personnel, any deeper discussion of the military applications are prohibited, notes the official.

A tricky fit
DART is a cylindrical space-

craft about 1.8 m long and 1 m wide. It weighs 360 kg, including its hydrazine and nitrogen fuels. To build DART, engineers had to attach the cylindrical fourth stage of the Pegasus rocket to a slightly narrower cylindrical structure procured from Vermont Composites in Bennington, Vt. This carbon-fiber structure holds DARTs experimental guidance sensor and propulsion system. The fourth stage will stay attached to the DART structure through the entire mission, and the two should be considered one spacecraft, Snoddy says. The fourth stage contains a flight computer supplied to Orbital by SBS Technologies of Albuquerque, N.M., and Augsburg, Germany. It will run the experiment using 110,000 lines of software code written by Orbital. The stage also contains a hydrazine thruster that will begin the test by boosting DART out of its 500-km park-

At Vandenberg AFB, workers maneuver the DART spacecraft, suspended by a crane, over the upper stage in preparation for launch.

by Ben Iannotta Contributing writer 27

Copyright 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

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At Vandenberg AFB, the Pegasus XL launch vehicle and DART spacecraft, which are mated, were attached to the underbelly of the Orbital Sciences L-1011 (for a launch that was subsquently scrubbed).

ing orbit and toward the retired satellite called MUBLCOM, for multipath beyond-line-of-sight communications. At the end of the experiment, the fourth stage will send DART back toward Earth so that it does not become dangerous space debris. By requirement, it must reenter the atmosphere and burn up within 25 years. The Pegasus fourth stage is wider in diameter than the DART structure. Vermont Composites supplied two inverted-cone-shaped rings to link the two dissimilar diameter cylinders. One ring forms the tapered neck that joins the two; the other ring is located inside the vehicle and connects the fuel tanks of the fourth stage to the DART structure. Program engineers knew the juncture would be the most vulnerable part of the spacecraft, partly because of the mass of the fuel and the fact that joining two dissimilar diameters tends to concentrate stress, Snoddy says. Vermont Composite technicians tested the inverted cones to 1.4 times the loads engineers calculated DART would experience as the Pegasus rocket stages fired. One day equals six months Days before the scheduled November 9 launch, Snoddy learned that the jolt from the Pegasus second stage might be much harder than previously thought. Orbitals Pegasus team had received data about another launch vehicle that had used an Orion solid rocket motor similar to the one in DARTs second stage. The result of that launch showed that the load might be much higher than predicted. DART had come close to being launched with the potentially fatal misjudgment. The first launch date, October 26, was scrubbed because
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of a GPS problem on MUBLCOM that was successfully resolved. MUBLCOM must report its position in space to DART engineers prior to the spacecrafts launch so it can be loaded into the DART computer. The next launch date, October 28, was scrubbed when members of the launch closeout team discovered flakes of aluminum foil from the rockets fairing inside the enclosure. The mission was rescheduled for no earlier than November 4. When the new load issue arose, Snoddy assembled his NASA team to decide whether or not the launch could proceed. Our biggest concern was the composite [inverted cone] structure, with a big mass, 70-80 lb of tank sitting there like a big hammer, Snoddy says. A delay would require lots of rescheduling. Snoddy had arranged time at four ground stations to receive S-band data transmissions from DART, and he had won a coveted launch slot within the Vandenberg AFB, Calif., rocket range, which was about to be closed temporarily for maintenance. With a $100-million mission at stake, Snoddy decided he had no choice but to conduct new analyses and hardware tests based on the new load anticipation. It took me a day to make the decision, but it cost me six months, he says. There was one fact that prevented an expensive and possibly much longer delay. We happened to have a piece of hardware made at the same time, Snoddy says. Engineers tested the spare inverted cone on a hydraulic press at Vermont Composites to imitate forces far greater than the new estimate for the stage-two jolt. We took it up to a factor of 3.0. We even thought about breaking it, Snoddy says. The hardware

passed the test without delaminating or breaking. DART is now back on track for launch. Snoddy will not say exactly how he learned of the faulty estimate. As a project manager, you have many sources. I cant recall who informed me first, he says. He also will not say how far off the load estimate was. Id hate to put a number on it. It was a significant increase in our load [that] we had to recertify to, he says. He expresses no rancor toward Orbital, however. I appreciate the notification, he says. Does the eye have it? While the L-1011 is on the runway, technicians will load a final set of GPS coordinates for MUBLCOM into the DART flight computer. The last command is given prior to drop. From that point on, theres no human in the loop, says Tim Rumford, Orbitals DART program manager. As DART climbs toward MUBLCOMs orbit of 760 km, for much of the trip it will rely on the last MUBLCOM GPS readings. Once it is about 40 km behind MUBLCOM and 7.5 km below it, DART will initiate a space-to-space UHF link with MUBLCOM to update the GPS position information, Rumford explains. The goal is to chase down MUBLCOM without passing it. One of the critical things is, you can never get in front of somebody, because youd have to do a whole other orbit, and you dont have enough propellant, Snoddy warns. At a range of 1,000 m, DART will turn on an experimental eye called the Advanced Video Guidance Sensor. The AVGS was developed by Orbital based on a prototype called the Video Guidance Sensor. The prototype was designed at Marshall in the late 1980s and tested on the space shuttles robotic arm. Marshall software experts provided 13,000 lines of computer code for the new AVGS. The AVGS will bounce low-powered lasers off MUBLCOM to calculate the relative distance and attitudes of the spacecraft. DARTs flight computer will compare the GPS and AVGS readings as the distance closes, to ask, Whos giving you a better answer? Snoddy says. At a distance of between 500 and 300 m, depending on AVGSs performance, DART will hand over guidance to AVGS. Once we get within 300 m, the AVGS will trump all other sensors in terms of importance, Rumford says. Engineers do not yet know exactly when AVGS will be able to see MUBLCOM, and that will be one of the interesting findings of the mission, according to Rumford and Snoddy. Though engineers consider AVGS to be DARTs eye, Snoddy says the sensor does not produce traditional images or videos. It sees

points of light. Software within AVGS uses the video to calculate distance and attitude. The flight computer then turns that information into propulsion commands. MUBLCOM has two sets of three laser retroreflectors, one long-range set for when DART is relatively far from MUBLCOM and a short-range set for when DART is so close that all three longrange reflectors would not be in the field of view. The transition point varies according to the maneuver but is usually when DART is meters away from MUBLCOM. By definition, you need three points to calculate distance. You calculate the time of the return signal. Its almost akin to a GPS, Snoddy explains. A separate camera on DART will return video images to Earth in near real time so managers can monitor the mission in a control room at Vandenberg. DARTs flight computer will use the AVGS information to command DARTs Proximity Operations Reaction Control System. This consists of 16 cold-gas nitrogen thrusters arranged in groups of four on the aft, forward, starboard, and port sides of DART. Each points in a different direction to give six degrees of motion, Rumford says. AVGS can be tested today only because in the 1990s

NASA

officials urged DARPA and Orbital to include laser reflectors on MUBLCOM. The lasers would have no effect on MUBLCOMs primary mission, which was to test the ability of Army soldiers and Marines to achieve over-thehorizon battlefield communications with a quickly assembled satellite constellation. The satellite was launched in 1999. It is retired but still functional.

At Vandenberg AFB, DART waits for fairing installation. The fairing will encapsulate the spacecraft and protect it while it is on the launch pad and during its ascent.

AEROSPACE AMERICA/MARCH 2005

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Dancing in space Just finding [MUBLCOM] is an exercise in itself, Snoddy says. The most challenging part of the mission will be the series of proximity operations DART performs near MUBLCOM. Its doing tens of thousands of miles an hour, and were trying to dance around it. Its not a trivial feat, Snoddy says. The dance will start cautiously. DART will maneuver behind MUBLCOM along its orbital path to a distance of 15 m. It will hover there motionless relative to MUBLCOM for 1.5 hr to demonstrate the ability of AVGS to track a target under the varying lighting conditions of a full orbit. Stationkeeping there will enable managers to receive video of the mission under a full array of light conditions. DART will then move to another point and head toward MUBLCOM as though it were on a docking axis. However, it will stop at 5 m. It actually has logic that says if you come within 5 m, safe yourself by backing up, Snoddy says. After that, DART will back off to a distance of 100 m and then approach MUBLCOM and perform a simulated collision avoidance maneuver, as if a docking were being aborted.

Next, it will move slowly away from DART to determine the maximum range of sight for the AVGS eye. Once AVGS loses tracking, DART will move back within range for a new series of maneuvers from beneath DART. These maneuvers will occur along tracks perpendicular to Earth. The dance culminates with DART dropping back to a distance of 1 km to circumnavigate MUBLCOM over the course of 75 min, or three-quarters of an orbit. DART will repeat the maneuvers from the beginning until its internal clock tells it time has run out. The mission will end when the fourth stage fires its hydrazine motor to send DART toward the atmosphere. Assuming the AVGS performs well, DARPA plans to fly a version of it on its Orbital Express automated docking experiment in 2006, says Snoddy. Most Marshall DART people are going to work on Orbital Express, he says. Snoddy says that he is confident that all major technical issues are behind DART, although he expects to be busy right up to the launch. Its fairly routine for me to get calls in the middle of the night: What do you want to do, Mr. Snoddy?

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