DART Employees at Work

The Dust Atmospheric Recovery Technology, or DART, spacecraft is being assembled in a laboratory inside the Space Life Sciences Lab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
DART will characterize the dust loading and microbial diversity in the atmosphere over Florida during summer months with a special emphasis on their interactions during an African dust storm. DART will be used to collect atmospheric aerosols and suspended microbial cells over Florida and Kennedy. Results will help predict the risks of excessive microbial contamination adhering to spacecraft surfaces.