DART Air Data has Interplanetary Potential

When NASA prepares a spacecraft to fly to a faraway planet to hunt for signs of life, it's important not to inadvertently send microorganisms from Earth along on the journey. The Dust Atmospheric Recovery Technology, or DART, is a new innovation designed to collect airborne dusts, bacteria and fungi in the atmosphere that can be returned to the lab for analysis. The results will make it easier to predict levels of dust and microbial contamination on spacecraft surfaces during payload processing and when the spacecraft are on launch pads. This knowledge also could help bolster Florida’s agriculture industry against exotic, airborne pathogens.