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A robotic NASA spacecraft designed to autonomously rendezvous with an orbiting satellite crashed into its target after using too much fuel halfway through its mission, according to a summary of the investigation released Monday. Investigators blamed the collision on faulty navigational data that caused the DART spacecraft to believe that it was backing away from its target when it was actually bearing down on it. "The inaccurate perception of its distance and speed ... prevented DART from taking effective action to avoid a collision," the summary said. The 800-pound Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft was supposed to rendezvous with...

Saying the information is too sensitive, NASA announced Friday that it will not release its report on the failed rendezvous of two spacecraft in what would have been the first such maneuver without human intervention. [snip] From the DART web-site: After a successful rendezvous, acquisition of the target spacecraft, and approach to within approximately 300 feet, DART placed itself in the retirement phase before completing all planned proximity operations, ending the mission prematurely. From the original AP article: An initial analysis found that DART suffered a fuel problem, but engineers did not detect a fuel leak. The mission manager also...

A Cook County Jail guard has admitted to investigators that he helped six inmates escape over the weekend to give a political advantage to a former jail supervisor running for sheriff... The 36-year-old guard confessed that he allowed a convicted killer, two accused robbers and two others charged with aggravated kidnapping and battery to bust out of the jail to cast a shadow on Sheriff Michael Sheahan's management of the complex at 26th and California. The guard knew the negative publicity would hurt Sheahan's chief of staff, Tom Dart, who is running for sheriff... And the guard admitted he helped...

Mission not accomplished for NASA's self-docking DART spacecraft Sat Apr 16, 1:05 PM ET  Science - AFP WASHINGTON (AFP) - The mission of NASA's automated, self-docking DART spacecraft -- considered a step toward lunar and Mars missions -- has failed, the US space agency said. The DART spacecraft is on its way to catch up with the MUBLCOM satellite. The mission of NASA's automated, self-docking DART spacecraft -- considered a step toward lunar and Mars missions -- has failed, the US space agency said.(NASA) DART, short for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, was launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base...

LOS ANGELES - After a series of delays, NASA has scheduled April 15 as the launch date for the first robotic spacecraft designed to rendezvous in orbit with other satellites without any human intervention, officials said Friday. If all goes as planned, the DART spacecraft — short for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology — will soar into space off the California coast, catch up with an orbiting Pentagon satellite and maneuver around it, making close approaches and moving away. "We're prepared for launch," launch director Omar Baez said Friday during a televised news conference from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center...

It was as bald as a message on the world’s biggest billboard–Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin swigging from a bottle of purified water in Kalumai, Sri Lanka. The photo op of a lifetime, eclipsed by free advertising for ZENON Environmental Inc. The water quenching the thirst of a Prime Minister was produced by the DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) water purifier. That’s the same DART that Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said the government decided to send to the Sri Lankan region of Ampara because it is one way to get aid to Tamils as well as the majority...

"U.S. helicopters fly to places which haven't been reached for the whole week and drop food... No talking but action. European countries are until now invisible on the ground." "U.S. Navy flying aid missions, Bundeswehr still looking things over," said the headline Jan. 3rd in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel (the Mirror). "While advance teams of the Bundeswehr (German army) are still camping in three tents at the Banda Aceh airport, Americans, Australians and New Zealanders have already flown tons of aid packages into disaster areas." At least the Germans were on the scene. On Jan 3rd, Canada's Disaster Assistance...

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's military emergency response team has been put on 48-hour notice. Members of the Disaster Assistance Response Team are on alert to depart, in case Ottawa decides to send the team to south Asia. Brig.-Gen. Brett Cairns says written orders are being issued to members of the team Friday, and people who are on leave are being recalled. The news came at a news conference where officials also up to 150 Canadians could be presumed missing in the Asian tsunami disaster, mostly in Thailand, a Foreign Affairs official said Friday. But James Fox emphasized the number is...

OTTAWA -- Although Canada's military keeps an emergency response team on standby to help in international disasters, it isn't "the right tool" to help victims of a devastating Asian earthquake and tsunami, federal officials said Tuesday. "It seems the DART is not the right tool at this time," Col. Guy Laroche of the Department of National Defence told a Media briefing three days after the crisis hit. Officials were responding to criticisms that the Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team hasn't yet been sent to the region devastated by an earthquake that triggered massive tidal waves on Boxing Day. Officials...

I'm excerpting this because it's a long article. Go to the link to read the whole sordid story. "About a year ago, Orbital's Launch Division changed the stage two igniter in the Pegasus launch vehicle that would be used to launch DART. They eventually determined that the launch environment would be different and that it would present a larger launch load - one which would have damaged the DART spacecraft. At the time of the change NASA asked Orbital Launch Division for information on this change and how it would affect the mission. Orbital Launch Division dragged their feet and...

Back for the umpteenth time in U.S. Tax Court: Dart Container Corp., the Mason, Mich. Styrofoam cup maker owned by brothers Kenneth B. and Robert C. Dart, who gave up citizenship and live abroad. This case: The Internal Revenue Service says Dart owes $19 million more in 1998 and 1999 taxes, primarily for wrongly deducting $45 million in "interest" payments, related to division of the family business in 1986 to settle a lawsuit by feuding sibling Thomas J. Dart. Dart Container says it's owed a $10 million refund. Last year Dart entities paid $26 million in taxes--from 1994. --J.N. and...

The federal government announced Tuesday the deployment of police, prison guards and legal experts to help rebuild the criminal-justice system in postwar Iraq. The Canadian offer includes an expanded role for three Hercules aircraft already operating in the region and “select units” of the military’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), should they be required. “Canada is responding to U.S. requests for assistance in this post-conflict period and is assessing additional contributions to Iraq’s reconstruction,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. Canada has committed about $106-million to humanitarian efforts in Iraq. More than $60-million has been disbursed through the...