Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission: Heliocentric Phase Trajectory Analysis

Abstract

DART, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will be the rst mission to demonstrate and characterize the concept of a kinetic impactor for planetary defense, by impacting the smaller member of a binary asteroid system Didymos. Results of this mission will have implications for planetary defense, Near-Earth Object science, and resource utilization. This research focuses on the heliocentric transfer phase of the mission. The heliocentric trajectory is evaluated using various objective functions, including a search for the latest possible escape date, the shortest time-of-ight, and the maximum impact energy. Also included in the search is the potential to use Earth gravitational assists, which proves not to oer any useful advantages. A new way to assess the trajectory's margin for missed thrust is used, which quanties the ability of the spacecraft to recover its mission following unplanned non-thrusting events, such as safe-mode. The baseline trajectory is shown to be capable of recovering from missed thrust events lasting 14 days using only 1% of its propellant as margin. Finally, we consider contingency trajectories that attempt to impact Didymos at a subsequent perihelion.

A Parallelized Genetic Algorithm to Evaluate Asteroid Impact Missions Using Electric Propulsion

“…However, Ref. [12] showed that optimizing the kinetic energy at impact (a scalar) was a useful objective that yielded many locally optimal solutions for that mission; therefore, it is reasonable to expect solutions that maximize v imp to also be relevant for maximizing v 2 imp . Second, our calculations examined a range of electrical power levels, including those higher than the capability of the spacecraft.…”

“…Asteroid impact missions, such as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) [8], employ a kinetic impactor to change the orbit of an asteroid. Various publications [9][10][11][12] have evaluated the use of the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) [13] to evaluate design options for the DART mission. The DART mission was launched on 24 November 2021 to impact the Didymos asteroid system 430 days later with an impact speed of 6.58 km/s.…”

“…Ozimek and Atchison developed a low-thrust trajectory concept using the NEXT thruster if the DART mission was to be launched as a ride-share from a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) [11]. In the same vein, Sarli et al [12] evaluated its cruise phase using the NEXT-Commercial (NEXT-C) thruster. Though the DART mission has abandoned the commercial ride-share approach in favor of a designated launch vehicle that has put the spacecraft directly on an earth-escape trajectory, Refs.…”

“…Though the DART mission has abandoned the commercial ride-share approach in favor of a designated launch vehicle that has put the spacecraft directly on an earth-escape trajectory, Refs. [11,12] provide a starting point for our work to demonstrate an alternative method for analyzing such missions.…”

Conceptual Design for Deflecting a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid with a Space Duster

“…Although there are several identified strategies with a clear vision for removing a physical body from its original trajectory that have been introduced, such as the kinetic impactor of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test [1], pulverizing hazardous asteroids with a short warning time [2], multifunctional paintball cloud [3], H-reversal trajectory using solar sails [4], and interception missions with a solar sail spacecraft [5], none of the aforementioned strategies can provide accurate solutions from an asteroid mining perspective, although their methods for deflecting PHAs are unique because most of the solutions are from theoretical perspectives and obtaining a whole asteroid from space is impossible. Before it reaches the atmosphere of Earth, it has already disintegrated.…”