April 11, 2019RELEASE C19-009NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Asteroid Redirect Test MissionNASA has selected SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, the first-ever mission to demonstrate the capability to deflect an asteroid by colliding a spacecraft with it at high speed – a technique known as a kinetic impactor.The total cost for NASA to launch DART is approximately $69 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs.The DART mission currently is targeted to launch in June 2021 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. By using solar electric propulsion, DART will intercept the asteroid Didymos’ small moon in October 2022, when the asteroid will be within 11 million kilometers of Earth. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The DART Project office is located at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office in Washington.For more information about NASA programs and missions, visit:https://www.nasa.gov
SpaceX President & COO Gwynne Shotwell: “SpaceX is proud to continue our successful partnership with NASA in support of this important interplanetary mission."
SpaceX's Gwynne Shotwell: "SpaceX is proud to continue our successful partnership with NASA ... This award underscores NASA’s confidence in Falcon 9’s capability to perform critical science missions while providing the best launch value in the industry.”
NASA's total launch services budget for the MER-B campaign is approximately $68 million dollars.
https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1116451957844193280$68 million?QuoteNASA's total launch services budget for the MER-B campaign is approximately $68 million dollars.http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3407
Is this a Delta II class mission? I don't recall seeing the specs.
DART’s designers plan for it to rideshare on a commercial rocket, meaning it could be carried to space as an additional payload on any number of regularly scheduled launches.
This article from 2017 says:QuoteDART’s designers plan for it to rideshare on a commercial rocket, meaning it could be carried to space as an additional payload on any number of regularly scheduled launches.I'm guessing that's not the case anymore? Or is it still planned to be a rideshare?
* NASA will procure launch services for DART through NLS; LV selection is in process ─ DART will have dedicated LV
DART originally planned to launch as a rideshare on the commercial launch of a geostationary orbit satellite. The mission switched several months ago to a dedicated launch. NASA did not disclose if DART, which weighs about 500 kilograms, will share the launch vehicle with another spacecraft.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-awards-dart-launch-contract-to-spacex/Quote from: Jeff FoustDART originally planned to launch as a rideshare on the commercial launch of a geostationary orbit satellite. The mission switched several months ago to a dedicated launch. NASA did not disclose if DART, which weighs about 500 kilograms, will share the launch vehicle with another spacecraft.
$68 million?QuoteNASA's total launch services budget for the MER-B campaign is approximately $68 million dollars.http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=3407
For DART, total mission cost is being quoted as $69 million, not just launch costs. That $69m is spacecraft + launch vehicle + mission assurance / addons.
The total cost for NASA to launch DART is approximately $69 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs.
That translates to significant cost savings and keeps DART inexpensive for a planetary mission at around $250 million, Reed says.