The
Advanced Concept Architecture Test (ACAT)
was an R&D effort to explore if hardware developed
for the Strategic Defense Initiative could be utilized
by NASA.
By
assembling kill-vehicle (anti-ballistic missile) hardware
in novel ways, the team showed that the miniaturized
propulsion systems developed for SDI could be used to
create a very small spacecraft capable of landing on
the Moon or other extraterrestrial bodies.
Capabilities developed included:
Launch and soft-landing of a very small spacecraft
using miniaturized bang-bang (not throttled) rocket
engines
Delivery
and ejection of a small, autonomous roving science
payload
