The ESA Hera Mission: Detailed Characterization of the DART Impact Outcome and of the Binary Asteroid (65803) Didymos

Michel, Patrick; Küppers, M.; Bagatín, Adriano Campo; Carry, B.; Charnoz, Sébastien; León, Julia de; Fitzsimmons, A.; Gordo, Paulo; Green, Simon; Hérique, Alain; Juzi, Martin; Karatekin, Özgür; Kohout, T.; Lazzarin, M.; Murdoch, Naomi; Okada, Tatsuaki; Palomba, E.; Pravec, Petr; Snodgrass, C.; Tortora, Paolo; Tsiganis, K.; Ulamec, Stephan; Vincent, Jean‐Baptiste; Wünnemann, K.; Zhang, Yun; Raducan, Sabina D.; Dotto, E.; Chabot, N. L.; Cheng, A.; Rivkin, A. S.; Barnouin, O. S.; Ernst, C. M.; Stickle, A. M.; Richardson, D. C.; Thomas, C. A.; Arakawa, Masahiko; Miyamoto, Hirdy; Nakamura, Akiko; Sugita, Seiji; Yoshikawa, Makoto; Abell, P. A.; Asphaug, Erik; Ballouz, Ronald-Louis; Bottke, W. F.; Лауретта, Д. С.; Walsh, K. J.; Martino, Paolo Di; Carnelli, Ian

doi:10.3847/psj/ac6f52

Cited by 105 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…The scientific interest in the Didymos system has increased in recent years due to the fact that it has been selected as the target of the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART; Rivkin et al 2021) and Hera (Michel et al 2022) missions. DART will be the first mission to demonstrate the applicability of the kinetic impactor method for planetary defense (Cheng et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral Rotational Characterization of the Didymos System prior to the DART Impact*

Ieva¹,

Epifani²,

Perna³

et al. 2022

Planet. Sci. J.

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The smallest member of the Didymos binary near-Earth object system (Dimorphos) is the target of the DART/LICIACube mission, the first attempt to change the orbit of another celestial body via a kinetic impactor. It is important to characterize the unperturbed system prior to the DART impact. In this work we obtained, for the first time, spectral characterization of the system at several rotational phases from TNG+DOLORES in the visible range (0.34–0.81 μm). This is crucial in order to disentangle the primary and secondary bodies and highlight eventual dishomogeneities on their surfaces. We confirm that a subtle but persistent spectral variability appears, even when compared with data obtained from previous 2003 and 2019 apparitions. While the reason for such variability is still under investigation, our analysis hints that different compositions could play a role. Future observations during the brighter 2022 apparition in synergy with data obtained from LUKE on board LICIACube will definitely tackle this conundrum.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral Rotational Characterization of the Didymos System prior to the DART Impact*

Ieva¹,

Epifani²,

Perna³

et al. 2022

Planet. Sci. J.

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“…Both DRACO cameras and LEIA and LUKE will provide substantial geological information on the Didymos system before the arrival of the ESA Hera spacecraft (Michel et al 2022), which will characterize in detail the post-impact geology of the system. Hera will launch in 2024 to rendezvous with Didymos in 2026 and fully characterize the asteroid system, including the mass and volume of Dimorphos and the outcome of the DART impact (crater size and morphology).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipated Geological Assessment of the (65803) Didymos–Dimorphos System, Target of the DART–LICIACube Mission

et al. 2022

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On 2022 September 26, the DART spacecraft will impact the surface of Dimorphos, the ∼160 m size satellite of the binary near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (65803) Didymos. What will be observed on the surfaces of both asteroids and at the DART impact site is largely unknown, beyond the details of Didymos revealed by previous Arecibo and Goldstone radar observations. We present here the expected DART and LICIACube observations of the Didymos system and discuss the planned mapping strategies. By searching similar geological features and processes identified on other NEAs, we constrain the impact conditions that DART might encounter at Dimorphos, assessing both the asteroid’s surface and interior structure.

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“…Later, the Hera mission (scheduled to be launched in 2024 October by the European Space Agency, ESA) will measure the mass of Dimorphos to better than 10% during its rendezvous with the Didymos system in 2027. Hera will further refine the value of β, analyze in detail the properties and internal structure of Dimorphos, as well as assess the size and morphology of the crater left by DART (Michel et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shape Modeling of Dimorphos for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Daly¹,

Ernst²,

Barnouin³

et al. 2022

Planet. Sci. J.

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The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is the first planetary defense test mission. It will demonstrate the kinetic impactor technique by intentionally colliding the DART spacecraft with the near-Earth asteroid Dimorphos. The main DART spacecraft is accompanied by the Italian Space Agency Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube). Shape modeling efforts will estimate the volume of Dimorphos and constrain the nature of the impact site. The DART mission uses stereophotoclinometry (SPC) as its primary shape modeling technique. DART is essentially a worst-case scenario for any image-based shape modeling approach because images taken by the camera on board the DART spacecraft, called the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), possess little stereo and no lighting variation; they simply zoom in on the asteroid. LICIACube images add some stereo, but the images are substantially lower in resolution than the DRACO images. Despite the far-from-optimal imaging conditions, our tests indicate that we can identify the impact site to an accuracy and precision better than 10% the size of the spacecraft core, estimate the volume of Dimorphos to better than 25%, and measure tilts at the impact site over the scale of the spacecraft with an accuracy better than 7°. In short, we will know with excellent accuracy where the DART spacecraft hit, with reasonable knowledge of local tilt, and determine the volume well enough that uncertainties in the density of Dimorphos will be comparable to or dominate the uncertainty in the estimated mass. The tests reported here demonstrate that SPC is a robust technique for shape modeling, even with suboptimal images.

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The ESA Hera Mission: Detailed Characterization of the DART Impact Outcome and of the Binary Asteroid (65803) Didymos

Cited by 105 publications

References 106 publications

Spectral Rotational Characterization of the Didymos System prior to the DART Impact*

Spectral Rotational Characterization of the Didymos System prior to the DART Impact*

Anticipated Geological Assessment of the (65803) Didymos–Dimorphos System, Target of the DART–LICIACube Mission

Shape Modeling of Dimorphos for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

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