Jorge R. Frank wrote:


Besides, he's still missing Ed's point. The DoD is already running their
own autonomous rendezvous/prox ops/docking program (XSS-11) openly. They
have little interest in NASA's DART program (they're convinced that XSS-11
will work better than DART, anyway), so the idea that DART is some kind of
"hide in plain sight" DoD program is pretty ludicrous.



It has the capability to do a ASAT mission, and being that it rides on a
Pegasus, do it on a budget- and that shouldn't be overlooked.
It's also odd that it doesn't require the target object to at least be
equipped with a transponder to aid it in its rendezvous.
Is it possibly a "Sheep Dip" program, to establish a civilian precedent
for rendezvousing with spacecraft in orbit, so that everyone doesn't
raise a ruckus when the DOD starts sending theirs up? It's got the same
feel to it that the Soviet's Polyot 1 and 2 had.

Pat