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By Beth Dickey<br /><br />An apparent fuel shortage brought a government space technology demonstration to a premature end in Earth orbit late Friday. <br /><br />The $110 million robotic spacecraft, known as Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, was designed to test autopiloted rendezvous techniques for U.S. civilian and military space vehicles. It stopped operating less than 24 hours after it was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. <br /><br />NASA, which sponsored the mission, said it is convening a mishap investigation board. <br />