Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment

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Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment

DART probe
Mission goal (65803) Didymos
Client NASA and ESA
Course of the mission
Start date July 2021 - February 2022 (DART)
October 2023 (Hera)

Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment ( AIDA forshort) is a jointmission to the double asteroid (65803) Didymos plannedby NASA and ESA . The aim of the mission is to prove that the orbit of an asteroid can be changedby the impact of a space probe . The mission is to consist of two space probes: the NASA probe DART ( Double Asteroid Redirection Test ; English for "double asteroid diversion test") and the ESA probe Hera . DART should start in mid-2021 at the earliest, Hera in 2023. Template: future / in 3 years

planning

In February 2015, NASA presented the concept study of the AIDA mission on the near-earth double asteroid (65803) Didymos as a joint project with ESA, whereby the NASA probe DART ( Double Asteroid Redirection Test ) is to hit the smaller of the two asteroids and the ESA Probe AIM ( Asteroid Impact Mission ) observed this and measured the asteroids. In October 2015, the ESA concretized the plans for the AIM space probe, which should establish the transmission of the data via laser communication to the ESA's optical ground station on Tenerife , which would make the transmission many times faster than previous radio communication . The 39.3 kilogram probe will be designed by RUAG Space in Switzerland .

In December 2016, the ESA Council of Ministers - a ministerial conference of all 22 ESA member states - as the highest body for AIM, decided not to approve any funding. This would have required 100 million euros. This means de facto the withdrawal of ESA from the project. Following this conference, NASA announced that it would stick to the AIDA concept and, if in doubt, would also launch the DART spacecraft without its ESA counterpart. The impact would then only have been observed by ground stations. In late June 2017, NASA confirmed the AIDA mission by upgrading it from a concept study to a preliminary design phase.

The ESA member states resumed their plans to participate in AIDA and decided to carry out the Hera mission in November 2019.

Mission objectives

The main objective is to check whether the orbit of a medium-sized asteroid can be changed by the impact of a spacecraft. This would be the first step in a planetary defense against earth orbit cruisers in order to dissuade them from their course if there is a risk of collision with the earth . The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor with around 1,500 injured people showed the need. Like this one, Didymos belongs to the Apollo type of asteroids - near-Earth asteroids that can cross the earth's orbit. Didymos will not cross the earth's orbit in the foreseeable future.

The AIM spacecraft was designed to provide detailed topographic maps of the asteroids, as well as knowledge of the internal structure and orbit of the smaller asteroid around the larger one.

Technically, the laser communication to the ground station and an inter-satellite network between the AIM space probe, CubeSats and MASCOT-2 lander will be tested. CubeSats are small mini satellites weighing only one kilogram that are supposed to test new communication technologies during the mission.

Course of the mission

AIM was to take off from French Guiana in October 2020 with an Ariane 62 1 and reach the double asteroid Didymos 18 months later at a distance of 16 million kilometers. In addition to a high-resolution camera, an infrared camera and a radar for surface investigation would have been on board . Several mini satellites, so-called CubeSats , should be used for laser communication with the ground station . In addition, the MASCOT-2 lander of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was planned for AIM, which was supposed to investigate the chemical composition of the soil. In the later course of the mission, the probe should move into a safe observation distance.

DART is scheduled to start in July 2021 at the earliest and arrive in October 2022 after a flyby of the asteroid (3361) OrpheusTemplate: future / in 2 years . Didymos would be about 11 million kilometers away at that time. The NASA probe is said to hit the smaller asteroid, informally known as the "Didymoon" (officially Didymos B), with a diameter of 170 meters, at six kilometers per second. Then it should be clarified whether the orbit of Didymoon changes as a result of the impact.

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1Contrary to the English-language ESA website, a Soyuz rocket should be used, according to German-speaking

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fiscal Year 2021 Congressional Justification , pages LSO-71, LSO-74 and PS-14. NASA, February 10, 2020 (PDF, 12 MB)
  2. ↑ Hera Mission. (PDF) ESA, 2017, accessed on May 11, 2019 .
  3. ^ Hera mission status. (PDF) ESA, 2018, accessed on May 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) collaboration . ESA, accessed February 16, 2020.
  5. ↑ AIDA: Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment Mission Under Study at ESA And NASA. (PDF) ESA , accessed on July 8, 2017 (English).
  6. ↑ Light is sent on a journey of several million kilometers. ESA , accessed July 8, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Europe's future in space travel. ESA , accessed July 8, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Europe's future in space travel. In: Euronews . Retrieved July 8, 2017 .
  9. ↑ NASA'S First Asteroid Deflection Mission Enters Next Design Phase. NASA , accessed July 8, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Asteroid defense and own moon mission . tagesschau.de, December 30, 2019.
  11. ↑ Nasa wants to test asteroid defense. In: Telepolis . Retrieved July 8, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Asteroid Impact Mission. ESA , accessed July 8, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Esa wants to observe the impact on an asteroid live - and land on it beforehand. In: Augsburger Allgemeine . Retrieved July 8, 2017 .