NASA helping build spacecraft — just so it can be demolished

Work is under way to create a spacecraft that won't be rocketed into outer space but will be purposely destroyed on the ground. DebriSat is a 110-pound (50 kilograms) satellite that's a double for a modern low-Earth orbit spacecraft in terms of its components, materials used, and fabrication procedures. But once fabricated and tested, DebriSat is doomed. The spacecraft will be the target of a future hypervelocity impact experiment to examine the physical characteristics of debris created when two satellites collide. More

(Source: MSNBC - Nov 7)