AIDA (international space cooperation)

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Illustration of the DART impactor spacecraft and LICIACube approaching Dimorphos. Dart header 2 (1).jpg
Illustration of the DART impactor spacecraft and LICIACube approaching Dimorphos.

DART or Double Asteroid Redirection Test was a 500 kg (1,100 lb) impactor that hosted a single camera, Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO), derived from LORRI camera aboard New Horizons, to support autonomous guiding to impact the center of the moon of Didymos B. [35] It also carried an Italian-built cubesat called LICIACube that was released pre-impact on 11 September 2022 to image the event. [36] It is estimated that the impact of the 500 kg (1,100 lb) [37] DART at 6 km/s (3.7 mi/s) [21] will produce a velocity change on the order of 0.4 mm/s, which leads to a small change in the orbit of Didymos B, but over time, a large change in the orbital position (or orbital phase). [15] [19] [16] DART impacted Dimorphos on 26 September 2022. [10]

Hera

Hera probe and its 2 CubeSats, Milani and Juventas Hera in orbit.jpg
Hera probe and its 2 CubeSats, Milani and Juventas

Hera is the European component of the ESA–NASA AIDA mission. The Hera spacecraft, approved on 29 November 2019, [24] will focus on key measurements to validate impact and asteroid deflection models, such as the detailed characterisation of the impact crater made by the DART impactor. [38] Hera will also measure the DART impact outcome, such as change in the binary system orbit, [38] and will enable detailed characterisation of the Dimorphos volume and surface properties, as well as measure the volume and morphology of the DART impact crater. [39]

The baseline payload of Hera includes a camera, a miniaturized lidar and two CubeSats dedicated to asteroid characterisation. The spacecraft design allows for 40 kilograms (88 lb) of additional payload mass, including the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) proposed by Japan's space agency JAXA. Other options, such as a small lander, are being considered. [38] Hera was launched on a Falcon 9 on 7 October 2024. [4]

Proposed payload

The notional payloads on Hera are: [16] [12] [6]

  • Asteroid Framing Camera to obtain information on the dynamics of a binary asteroid and physical characteristics. [40]
  • Lidar laser altimeter to measure the shapes of the two bodies and constrain the mass of the asteroid's moon. [40]
  • Thermal imager [40]
  • Milani is a 6-unit CubeSat carrying the ASPECT visual and near-IR imaging spectrometer and VISTA for dust characterization. Milani will study the binary system surface composition, and perform technology demonstration experiments related to the Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) and autonomous optical navigation. The CubeSat will operate for 3–6 months in the vicinity of the system. [41]
  • Juventas is a 6-unit CubeSat carrying a camera and a low-frequency radar (JuRa), for determining the internal structure of Dimorphos. [42] [43] It will operate for 3–6 months near the asteroid. [7] At the end of its mission, it will attempt a landing on the surface of Dimorphos to obtain close-up data. [7]

Mission design

AIDA
Mission typeDual asteroid probes
Operator ESA / NASA
Website AIDA study
Start of mission
Launch date
Rocket
Dimorphos [5] impactor
Spacecraft component DART
Impact date26 September 2022
Schematic showing the progress of the mission. In the current proposal AIM is replaced with Hera, there is no MASCOT, and the CubeSats are now envisioned to be 6U instead of 3U Schematic-of-the-AIDA-mission-concept.png
Schematic showing the progress of the mission. In the current proposal AIM is replaced with Hera, there is no MASCOT, and the CubeSats are now envisioned to be 6U instead of 3U

AIDA will target 65803 Didymos, a binary asteroid system in which one asteroid is orbited by a smaller one. The primary asteroid is about 800 metres (2,600 ft) in diameter; its small satellite is about 150 metres (490 ft) in diameter in an orbit about 1.1 km (0.68 mi) from the primary. Didymos is not an Earth-crossing asteroid, and there is no possibility that the deflection experiment could create an impact hazard to Earth. [16]

The impact of the 300 kilograms (660 lb)DART spacecraft at 6.25 km/s will produce a velocity change on the order of 0.4 mm/s, which leads to a significant change in the mutual orbit of these two objects, but only a minimal change in the heliocentric orbit of the system. [15] [19] [16] AIDA will provide a great benefit obtaining the size of the resulting impact crater in addition to the momentum transfer measurement, as the effects of porosity and strength of the target are needed to calculate the momentum transfer efficiency. [19] [16]

DART impacted the small moon of the asteroid Didymos on 26 September 2022, while Hera would arrive at Didymos in 2027, five years after DART's impact. To maximize scientific outcome, the AIDA team had proposed to delay DART's launch so that Hera would arrive at the asteroid first, enabling it to study DART's impact, the plume, the crater, and the freshly exposed material. [12] While most of the initial objectives of AIDA would still be met if Hera arrives after DART, as a drawback, data from direct observation of the impact and ejecta will not be obtained. [12]

AIDA mission architecture

Host spacecraftSecondary spacecraftRemarks
DART LICIACube [27]
  • By the Italian Space Agency
  • 6U CubeSat
  • LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer) Camera and LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid) Camera
HeraJuventas [42] [7]
  • By GomSpace and GMV
  • 6U CubeSat orbiter
  • Camera, JuRa monostatic low-frequency radar, [43] accelerometers, and gravimeter [40]
  • Will attempt to land on the asteroid surface [7] [40]
Milani [9]
  • By Italy/Czech/Finnish consortium
  • 6U CubeSat orbiter
  • VIS/Near-IR spectrometer, volatile analyzer
  • Will characterize Didymos and Dimorphos surface composition and the dust environment around the system
  • Will perform technology demonstration experiments

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>Hera</i> (space mission) ESA spacecraft which will study the effects of the DART Impactor on the asteroid moon Dimorphos

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References

  1. ↑ Talbert, Tricia (17 February 2021). "DART Launch Moves to Secondary Window".PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ↑ "Hera". ESA . September 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "Falcon 9 (Block 5) | Hera". NextSpaceflight.com. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  4. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (20 October 2022). "ESA moves two missions to Falcon 9". SpaceNews . Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  5. ↑ "AIDA study". European Space Agency. 19 December 2012. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Carnelli, Ian (11 October 2017). "The Hera Mission Study" (PDF). ESA. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 The Juventas CubeSat in Support of ESA's Hera Mission to the Asteroid Didymos Hannah R. Goldberg, Özgür Karatekin, Birgit Ritter, Alain Herique, Paolo Tortora, Claudiu Prioroc, Borja Garcia Gutierrez, Paolo Martino, Ian Carnelli. 33rd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites
  8. ↑ AIDA mission rationale Archived May 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine . ESA, 25 May 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 "Industry starts work on Europe's Hera planetary defence mission". 15 September 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  10. 1 2 Bardan, Roxana (26 September 2022). "NASA's DART Mission Hits Asteroid in First-Ever Planetary Defense Test". NASA. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "Hera". www.esa.int. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Michel, Patrick; Kueppers, Michael; Sierks, Holger; Carnelli, Ian (26 April 2017). "European component of the AIDA mission to a binary asteroid: Characterization and interpretation of the impact of the DART mission" (PDF). Advances in Space Research (Article). 62 (8) (published 18 December 2017): 2261–2272. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.020. S2CID   55274187.
  13. 1 2 ExoMars Rover Gets Funding Despite Schiaparelli Mars Lander Crash. Alixandra Caole Vila, Nature World News 7 December 2016
  14. ↑ NASA presses ahead with asteroid mission despite ESA funding decision Jeff Foust, Space News 13 December 2016
  15. 1 2 3 Cheng, A.F.; Michel, P.; Reed, C.; Galvez, A.; Carnelli, I. (2012). DART: Double Asteroid Redirection Test (PDF). European Planetary Science Congress 2012. EPSC Abstracts.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Michel, P.; Cheng, A.; Carnelli, I.; a. Rivkin, C.; Galvez, A.; Ulamec, S.; Reed, C. (February 2015). "AIDA: Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment Mission Under Study at ESA and NASA" (PDF). Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur. 1829: 6008. Bibcode:2015LPICo1829.6008M . Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Cubesat Companions for ESA's Astroid[sic] Mission. Source: ESA. November 2, 2015.
  18. ↑ Lasagni Manghi, Riccardo; Modenini, Dario; Zannoni, Marco; Tortora, Paolo (2018). "Preliminary orbital analysis for a Cube Sat mission to the Didymos binary asteroid system". Advances in Space Research. 62 (8): 2290–2305. Bibcode:2018AdSpR..62.2290L. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.014. hdl: 11585/632497 . S2CID   125298773.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) study Archived 2015-06-07 at the Wayback Machine .
  20. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (15 February 2017). "NASA presses ahead with asteroid mission despite ESA funding decision". SpaceNews . Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  21. 1 2 Andone, Dakin (25 July 2017). "NASA unveils plan to test asteroid defence technique". CNN. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  22. ↑ Henry, Caleb (15 February 2017). "Luxembourgian minister unwilling to let ESA asteroid mission die without a fight". SpaceNews . Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  23. ↑ Bergin, Chris (7 January 2019). "Hera adds objectives to planetary defense test mission". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  24. 1 2 Hera mission is approved as ESA receives biggest ever budget. Kerry Hebden, Room Space Journal. 29 November 2019.
  25. ↑ "Andrea Milani (1948–2018)". 29 November 2018.
  26. ↑ "L'INDUSTRIA ITALIANA IN PRIMA LINEA NELLA MISSIONE HERA DELL'ESA". 15 September 2020.
  27. 1 2 3 Asteroids have been hitting the Earth for billions of years. In 2022, we hit back. Archived 2018-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Andy Rivkin, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. September 27, 2018.
  28. 1 2 Kretschmar, Peter; Küppers, Michael (20 December 2018). "The CubeSat Revolution" (PDF). ESA . Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  29. 1 2 Double Asteroid Redirection Test: The Earth Strikes Back. Elena Adams; Daniel O'Shaughnessy; Matthew Reinhart, etal. 2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference; 2–9 March 2019. doi : 10.1109/AERO.2019.8742007 Quote: "In addition, DART is carrying a 6U CubeSat provided by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). The CubeSat will provide imagery documentation of the impact, as well as in situ observation of the impact site and resultant ejecta plume".
  30. ↑ DART Impact Ejecta Simulation and Visualization for Fly-Along CubeSat Operational Planning. Fahnestock, E.; Yu, Y.; Cheng, A. F. Astronomy Abstract Service; December 2018.
  31. ↑ Carnelli, Ian (31 January 2018). "Status of AIM/Hera" (PDF). ESA . Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  32. ↑ "Missione Hera, Tyvak Int. realizzerà il cubesat "Andrea Milani"". 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  33. ↑ "BACK TO SPACE: IN 2024 POLITECNICO DI MILANO WILL TAKE PART TO THE FIRST PLANETARY DEFENSE MISSION". 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  34. ↑ "CubeSats joining Hera mission to asteroid system". Space Daily. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  35. ↑ https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/fy2021_congressional_justification.pdf - 10 February 2020 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  36. ↑ "LICIACUBE: NASA CHOOSES AN ARGOTEC'S SMALLSAT!". Argotec. Archived from the original on 25 June 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  37. ↑ DART: Home page at APL Archived 2018-05-10 at the Wayback Machine . DART Spacecraft. APL, 2017.
  38. 1 2 3 The Hera mission: European component of the ESA-NASA AIDA mission to a binary asteroid. Michel, Patrick; Küppers, Michael; Carnelli, Ian. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 14–22 July 2018, in Pasadena, California, USA, Abstract id. B1.1-42-18
  39. ↑ Raducan, Sabina D.; Collins, Gareth S.; Davison, Thomas M. (1 May 2019). "Numerical modelling of the DART impact and the importance of the Hera mission" (PDF). IAA Planetary Defense Conference. Washington DC. S2CID   150382273. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 Exploration of the binary asteroid 65803 Didymos by the Hera mission. EPSC Abstracts. Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-583-1, 2019. EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019. 15–20 September 2019.
  41. ↑ Ferrari, Fabio; Franzese, Vittorio; Pugliatti, Mattia; Giordano, Carmine; Topputo, Francesco (15 March 2021). "Preliminary mission profile of Hera's Milani CubeSat". Advances in Space Research (Article). 67 (6): 2010–2029. arXiv: 2102.01559 . Bibcode:2021AdSpR..67.2010F. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2020.12.034. ISSN   0273-1177. S2CID   231750015.
  42. 1 2 A Low Frequency Radar to Fathom Asteroids from Juventas Cubesat on HERA. Alain Herique, Dirk Plettemeier, Wlodek Kofman, Yves Rogez, Christopher Buck, and Hannah Goldberg. EPSC Abstracts. Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-807-2, 2019. EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019.
  43. 1 2 JuRa: the Juventas Radar on Hera to fathom Didymoon Alain Herique, Dirk Plettemeier, Hannah Goldberg, Wlodek Kofman, and the JuRa Team. EPSC Abstracts. Vol.14, EPSC2020-595. doi : 10.5194/epsc2020-595.
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