Goodnight, sweet flash-frozen miniature prince: Dippin' Dots, the so-called "ice cream of the future," is facing the very real possibility of becoming a relic of the past, as the company filed for Chapter 11 this week.

Dippin' Dots signified a tiny (literally) taste of what could have been: scientifically optimized space-age food, whose tiny size belied their oversized flavor. They represented a step toward the NASA-fueled dreams that many of us have clung to since childhood: that one day our meals could come in pill form. And they were freaking tasty. They made a trip to that seething underbelly—the field-trip infested basement cafeteria of the American Museum of Natural History—totally worth it.

In August, The Atlantic profiled the future of the ice cream of the future, in which owner Curt Jones shared plans to introduce margarita and daiquiri flavored beads to bartenders. Now, we'll never have a chance to sample that brilliant concoction. Safe travels into beyond, Dippin' Dots. You'll be missed.