Search

Your search keyword '"Mazzotta Epifani, Elena"' showing total 45 results
Start Over Author "Mazzotta Epifani, Elena"
45 results on '"Mazzotta Epifani, Elena"'

1. Author Correction: The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos

Author

Barnouin, Olivier, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Marchi, Simone, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Agrusa, Harrison, Zhang, Yun, Ernst, Carolyn M., Pajola, Maurizio, Tusberti, Filippo, Lucchetti, Alice, Daly, R. Terik, Palmer, Eric, Walsh, Kevin J., Michel, Patrick, Sunshine, Jessica M., Rizos, Juan L., Farnham, Tony L., Richardson, Derek C., Parro, Laura M., Murdoch, Naomi, Robin, Colas Q., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Kahout, Tomas, Asphaug, Erik, Raducan, Sabina D., Jutzi, Martin, Ferrari, Fabio, Hasselmann, Pedro Henrique Aragao, CampoBagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy L., Li, Jian-Yang, Cheng, Andrew F., Nolan, Michael C., Stickle, Angela M., Karatekin, Ozgur, Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Rossi, Alessandro, Gai, Igor, Deshapriya, Jasinghege Don Prasanna, Bertini, Ivano, Zinzi, Angelo, Trigo-Rodriguez, Josep M., Beccarelli, Joel, Ivanovski, Stavro Lambrov, Brucato, John Robert, Poggiali, Giovanni, Zanotti, Giovanni, Amoroso, Marilena, Capannolo, Andrea, Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lavagn, Michèle, Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Rivkin, Andrew S.

Published
2024
Full Text
View/download PDF

2. The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos

Author

Barnouin, Olivier, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Marchi, Simone, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Agrusa, Harrison, Zhang, Yun, Ernst, Carolyn M., Pajola, Maurizio, Tusberti, Filippo, Lucchetti, Alice, Daly, R. Terik, Palmer, Eric, Walsh, Kevin J., Michel, Patrick, Sunshine, Jessica M., Rizos, Juan L., Farnham, Tony L., Richardson, Derek C., Parro, Laura M., Murdoch, Naomi, Robin, Colas Q., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Kahout, Tomas, Asphaug, Erik, Raducan, Sabina D., Jutzi, Martin, Ferrari, Fabio, Hasselmann, Pedro Henrique Aragao, CampoBagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy L., Li, Jian-Yang, Cheng, Andrew F., Nolan, Michael C., Stickle, Angela M., Karatekin, Ozgur, Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Rossi, Alessandro, Gai, Igor, Deshapriya, Jasinghege Don Prasanna, Bertini, Ivano, Zinzi, Angelo, Trigo-Rodriguez, Josep M., Beccarelli, Joel, Ivanovski, Stavro Lambrov, Brucato, John Robert, Poggiali, Giovanni, Zanotti, Giovanni, Amoroso, Marilena, Capannolo, Andrea, Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lavagn, Michèle, Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Rivkin, Andrew S.

Published
2024
Full Text
View/download PDF

3. The Comet Interceptor Mission

Author

Jones, Geraint H., Snodgrass, Colin, Tubiana, Cecilia, Küppers, Michael, Kawakita, Hideyo, Lara, Luisa M., Agarwal, Jessica, André, Nicolas, Attree, Nicholas, Auster, Uli, Bagnulo, Stefano, Bannister, Michele, Beth, Arnaud, Bowles, Neil, Coates, Andrew, Colangeli, Luigi, Corral van Damme, Carlos, Da Deppo, Vania, De Keyser, Johan, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Edberg, Niklas, El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy, Faggi, Sara, Fulle, Marco, Funase, Ryu, Galand, Marina, Goetz, Charlotte, Groussin, Olivier, Guilbert-Lepoutre, Aurélie, Henri, Pierre, Kasahara, Satoshi, Kereszturi, Akos, Kidger, Mark, Knight, Matthew, Kokotanekova, Rosita, Kolmasova, Ivana, Kossacki, Konrad, Kührt, Ekkehard, Kwon, Yuna, La Forgia, Fiorangela, Levasseur-Regourd, Anny-Chantal, Lippi, Manuela, Longobardo, Andrea, Marschall, Raphael, Morawski, Marek, Muñoz, Olga, Näsilä, Antti, Nilsson, Hans, Opitom, Cyrielle, Pajusalu, Mihkel, Pommerol, Antoine, Prech, Lubomir, Rando, Nicola, Ratti, Francesco, Rothkaehl, Hanna, Rotundi, Alessandra, Rubin, Martin, Sakatani, Naoya, Sánchez, Joan Pau, Simon Wedlund, Cyril, Stankov, Anamarija, Thomas, Nicolas, Toth, Imre, Villanueva, Geronimo, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Volwerk, Martin, Wurz, Peter, Wielders, Arno, Yoshioka, Kazuo, Aleksiejuk, Konrad, Alvarez, Fernando, Amoros, Carine, Aslam, Shahid, Atamaniuk, Barbara, Baran, Jędrzej, Barciński, Tomasz, Beck, Thomas, Behnke, Thomas, Berglund, Martin, Bertini, Ivano, Bieda, Marcin, Binczyk, Piotr, Busch, Martin-Diego, Cacovean, Andrei, Capria, Maria Teresa, Carr, Chris, Castro Marín, José María, Ceriotti, Matteo, Chioetto, Paolo, Chuchra-Konrad, Agata, Cocola, Lorenzo, Colin, Fabrice, Crews, Chiaki, Cripps, Victoria, Cupido, Emanuele, Dassatti, Alberto, Davidsson, Björn J. R., De Roche, Thierry, Deca, Jan, Del Togno, Simone, Dhooghe, Frederik, Donaldson Hanna, Kerri, Eriksson, Anders, Fedorov, Andrey, Fernández-Valenzuela, Estela, Ferretti, Stefano, Floriot, Johan, Frassetto, Fabio, Fredriksson, Jesper, Garnier, Philippe, Gaweł, Dorota, Génot, Vincent, Gerber, Thomas, Glassmeier, Karl-Heinz, Granvik, Mikael, Grison, Benjamin, Gunell, Herbert, Hachemi, Tedjani, Hagen, Christian, Hajra, Rajkumar, Harada, Yuki, Hasiba, Johann, Haslebacher, Nico, Herranz De La Revilla, Miguel Luis, Hestroffer, Daniel, Hewagama, Tilak, Holt, Carrie, Hviid, Stubbe, Iakubivskyi, Iaroslav, Inno, Laura, Irwin, Patrick, Ivanovski, Stavro, Jansky, Jiri, Jernej, Irmgard, Jeszenszky, Harald, Jimenéz, Jaime, Jorda, Laurent, Kama, Mihkel, Kameda, Shingo, Kelley, Michael S. P., Klepacki, Kamil, Kohout, Tomáš, Kojima, Hirotsugu, Kowalski, Tomasz, Kuwabara, Masaki, Ladno, Michal, Laky, Gunter, Lammer, Helmut, Lan, Radek, Lavraud, Benoit, Lazzarin, Monica, Le Duff, Olivier, Lee, Qiu-Mei, Lesniak, Cezary, Lewis, Zoe, Lin, Zhong-Yi, Lister, Tim, Lowry, Stephen, Magnes, Werner, Markkanen, Johannes, Martinez Navajas, Ignacio, Martins, Zita, Matsuoka, Ayako, Matyjasiak, Barbara, Mazelle, Christian, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Meier, Mirko, Michaelis, Harald, Micheli, Marco, Migliorini, Alessandra, Millet, Aude-Lyse, Moreno, Fernando, Mottola, Stefano, Moutounaick, Bruno, Muinonen, Karri, Müller, Daniel R., Murakami, Go, Murata, Naofumi, Myszka, Kamil, Nakajima, Shintaro, Nemeth, Zoltan, Nikolajev, Artiom, Nordera, Simone, Ohlsson, Dan, Olesk, Aire, Ottacher, Harald, Ozaki, Naoya, Oziol, Christophe, Patel, Manish, Savio Paul, Aditya, Penttilä, Antti, Pernechele, Claudio, Peterson, Joakim, Petraglio, Enrico, Piccirillo, Alice Maria, Plaschke, Ferdinand, Polak, Szymon, Postberg, Frank, Proosa, Herman, Protopapa, Silvia, Puccio, Walter, Ranvier, Sylvain, Raymond, Sean, Richter, Ingo, Rieder, Martin, Rigamonti, Roberto, Ruiz Rodriguez, Irene, Santolik, Ondrej, Sasaki, Takahiro, Schrödter, Rolf, Shirley, Katherine, Slavinskis, Andris, Sodor, Balint, Soucek, Jan, Stephenson, Peter, Stöckli, Linus, Szewczyk, Paweł, Troznai, Gabor, Uhlir, Ludek, Usami, Naoto, Valavanoglou, Aris, Vaverka, Jakub, Wang, Wei, Wang, Xiao-Dong, Wattieaux, Gaëtan, Wieser, Martin, Wolf, Sebastian, Yano, Hajime, Yoshikawa, Ichiro, Zakharov, Vladimir, Zawistowski, Tomasz, Zuppella, Paola, Rinaldi, Giovanna, and Ji, Hantao

Published
2024
Full Text
View/download PDF

4. Ejecta from the DART-produced active asteroid Dimorphos

Author

Li, Jian-Yang, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Farnham, Tony L., Sunshine, Jessica M., Knight, Matthew M., Tancredi, Gonzalo, Moreno, Fernando, Murphy, Brian, Opitom, Cyrielle, Chesley, Steve, Scheeres, Daniel J., Thomas, Cristina A., Fahnestock, Eugene G., Cheng, Andrew F., Dressel, Linda, Ernst, Carolyn M., Ferrari, Fabio, Fitzsimmons, Alan, Ieva, Simone, Ivanovski, Stavro L., Kareta, Theodore, Kolokolova, Ludmilla, Lister, Tim, Raducan, Sabina D., Rivkin, Andrew S., Rossi, Alessandro, Soldini, Stefania, Stickle, Angela M., Vick, Alison, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Weaver, Harold A., Bagnulo, Stefano, Bannister, Michele T., Cambioni, Saverio, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy L., Cremonese, Gabriele, Daly, R. Terik, Dotto, Elisabetta, Glenar, David A., Granvik, Mikael, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Herreros, Isabel, Jacobson, Seth, Jutzi, Martin, Kohout, Tomas, La Forgia, Fiorangela, Lazzarin, Monica, Lin, Zhong-Yi, Lolachi, Ramin, Lucchetti, Alice, Makadia, Rahil, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Michel, Patrick, Migliorini, Alessandra, Moskovitz, Nicholas A., Ormö, Jens, Pajola, Maurizio, Sánchez, Paul, Schwartz, Stephen R., Snodgrass, Colin, Steckloff, Jordan, Stubbs, Timothy J., and Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M.

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

5. The Dimorphos ejecta plume properties revealed by LICIACube

Author

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Dotto, Elisabetta, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Gai, Igor, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Poggiali, Giovanni, Rossi, Alessandro, Zanotti, Giovanni, Zinzi, Angelo, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John Robert, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Ivanovski, Stavro, Lucchetti, Alice, Pajola, Maurizio, Amoroso, Marilena, Barnouin, Olivier, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Chabot, Nancy, Cheng, Andy F., Cremonese, Gabriele, Fahnestock, Eugene G., Farnham, Tony, Ferrari, Fabio, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Jutzi, Martin, Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Li, Jian-Yang, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Raducan, Sabina D., Richardson, Derek C., Rivkin, Andy, Stickle, Angela M., Sunshine, Jessica M., Tortora, Paolo, Tusberti, Filippo, Zannoni, Marco, Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Dotto, Elisabetta, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Gai, Igor, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Poggiali, Giovanni, Rossi, Alessandro, Zanotti, Giovanni, Zinzi, Angelo, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John Robert, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Ivanovski, Stavro, Lucchetti, Alice, Pajola, Maurizio, Amoroso, Marilena, Barnouin, Olivier, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Chabot, Nancy, Cheng, Andy F., Cremonese, Gabriele, Fahnestock, Eugene G., Farnham, Tony, Ferrari, Fabio, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Jutzi, Martin, Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Li, Jian-Yang, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Raducan, Sabina D., Richardson, Derek C., Rivkin, Andy, Stickle, Angela M., Sunshine, Jessica M., Tortora, Paolo, Tusberti, Filippo, and Zannoni, Marco

Abstract

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) had an impact with Dimorphos (a satellite of the asteroid Didymos) on 26 September 20221. Ground-based observations showed that the Didymos system brightened by a factor of 8.3 after the impact because of ejecta, returning to the pre-impact brightness 23.7 days afterwards2. Hubble Space Telescope observations made from 15 minutes after impact to 18.5 days after, with a spatial resolution of 2.1 kilometres per pixel, showed a complex evolution of the ejecta3, consistent with other asteroid impact events. The momentum enhancement factor, determined using the measured binary period change4, ranges between 2.2 and 4.9, depending on the assumptions about the mass and density of Dimorphos5. Here we report observations from the LUKE and LEIA instruments on the LICIACube cube satellite, which was deployed 15 days in advance of the impact of DART. Data were taken from 71 seconds before the impact until 320 seconds afterwards. The ejecta plume was a cone with an aperture angle of 140 ± 4 degrees. The inner region of the plume was blue, becoming redder with increasing distance from Dimorphos. The ejecta plume exhibited a complex and inhomogeneous structure, characterized by filaments, dust grains and single or clustered boulders. The ejecta velocities ranged from a few tens of metres per second to about 500 metres per second.

Published
2024

6. Fast boulder fracturing by thermal fatigue detected on stony asteroids

Author

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Lucchetti, Alice, Cambioni, Saverio, Nakano, Ryota, Barnouin, Olivier, Pajola, Maurizio, Penasa, L., Tusberti, Filippo, Ramesh, K. T., Dotto, Elisabetta, Ernst, Carolyn, Daly, R. Terik, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Parro, Laura M., Poggiali, Giovanni, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Chabot, Nancy, Michel, Patrick, Murdoch, Naomi, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Karatekin, Ozgür, Rivkin, Andy, Sunshine, Jessica M., Kohout, Tomas, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Ieva, Simone, Beccarelli, Joel, Ivanovski, Stavro, Rossi, Alessandro, Ferrari, Fabio, Rossi, C., Raducan, Sabina D., Steckloff, Jordan, Schwartz, Stephen R., Brucato, John Robert, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Zinzi, Angelo, Cheng, Andy F., Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Cremonese, Gabriele, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Gai, Igor, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Impresario, Gabriele, Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, Zanotti, Giovanni, Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Lucchetti, Alice, Cambioni, Saverio, Nakano, Ryota, Barnouin, Olivier, Pajola, Maurizio, Penasa, L., Tusberti, Filippo, Ramesh, K. T., Dotto, Elisabetta, Ernst, Carolyn, Daly, R. Terik, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Parro, Laura M., Poggiali, Giovanni, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Chabot, Nancy, Michel, Patrick, Murdoch, Naomi, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Karatekin, Ozgür, Rivkin, Andy, Sunshine, Jessica M., Kohout, Tomas, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Ieva, Simone, Beccarelli, Joel, Ivanovski, Stavro, Rossi, Alessandro, Ferrari, Fabio, Rossi, C., Raducan, Sabina D., Steckloff, Jordan, Schwartz, Stephen R., Brucato, John Robert, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Zinzi, Angelo, Cheng, Andy F., Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Cremonese, Gabriele, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Gai, Igor, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Impresario, Gabriele, Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Zanotti, Giovanni

Abstract

Spacecraft observations revealed that rocks on carbonaceous asteroids, which constitute the most numerous class by composition, can develop millimeter-to-meter-scale fractures due to thermal stresses. However, signatures of this process on the second-most populous group of asteroids, the S-complex, have been poorly constrained. Here, we report observations of boulders’ fractures on Dimorphos, which is the moonlet of the S-complex asteroid (65803) Didymos, the target of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planetary defense mission. We show that the size-frequency distribution and orientation of the mapped fractures are consistent with formation through thermal fatigue. The fractures’ preferential orientation supports that these have originated in situ on Dimorphos boulders and not on Didymos boulders later transferred to Dimorphos. Based on our model of the fracture propagation, we propose that thermal fatigue on rocks exposed on the surface of S-type asteroids can form shallow, horizontally propagating fractures in much shorter timescales (100 kyr) than in the direction normal to the boulder surface (order of Myrs). The presence of boulder fields affected by thermal fracturing on near-Earth asteroid surfaces may contribute to an enhancement in the ejected mass and momentum from kinetic impactors when deflecting asteroids.

Published
2024

7. Evidence for multi-fragmentation and mass shedding of boulders on rubble-pile binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos

Author

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Pajola, Maurizio, Tusberti, Filippo, Lucchetti, Alice, Barnouin, Olivier, Cambioni, Saverio, Ernst, Carolyn, Dotto, Elisabetta, Daly, R. Terik, Poggiali, Giovanni, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Nakano, Ryota, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Chabot, Nancy, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Rivkin, Andy, Agrusa, Harrison F., Zhang, Yun, Penasa, L., Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Ivanovski, Stavro, Murdoch, Naomi, Rossi, Alessandro, Robin, Colas Q., Ieva, Simone, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Ferrari, Fabio, Raducan, Sabina D., Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Parro, Laura M., Benavídez, Paula Gabriela, Tancredi, Gonzalo, Karatekin, Ozgür, Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., Sunshine, Jessica M., Farnham, Tony, Asphaug, Erik, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Beccarelli, Joel, Schwartz, Stephen R., Abell, Paul, Michel, Patrick, Cheng, Andy F., Brucato, John Robert, Zinzi, Angelo, Amoroso, Marilena, Pirrotta, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Bertini, Ivano, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Gai, Igor, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, Zanotti, Giovanni, Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Pajola, Maurizio, Tusberti, Filippo, Lucchetti, Alice, Barnouin, Olivier, Cambioni, Saverio, Ernst, Carolyn, Dotto, Elisabetta, Daly, R. Terik, Poggiali, Giovanni, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Nakano, Ryota, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Chabot, Nancy, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Rivkin, Andy, Agrusa, Harrison F., Zhang, Yun, Penasa, L., Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Ivanovski, Stavro, Murdoch, Naomi, Rossi, Alessandro, Robin, Colas Q., Ieva, Simone, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Ferrari, Fabio, Raducan, Sabina D., Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Parro, Laura M., Benavídez, Paula Gabriela, Tancredi, Gonzalo, Karatekin, Ozgür, Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., Sunshine, Jessica M., Farnham, Tony, Asphaug, Erik, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Beccarelli, Joel, Schwartz, Stephen R., Abell, Paul, Michel, Patrick, Cheng, Andy F., Brucato, John Robert, Zinzi, Angelo, Amoroso, Marilena, Pirrotta, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Bertini, Ivano, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Gai, Igor, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Zanotti, Giovanni

Abstract

Asteroids smaller than 10 km are thought to be rubble piles formed from the reaccumulation of fragments produced in the catastrophic disruption of parent bodies. Ground-based observations reveal that some of these asteroids are today binary systems, in which a smaller secondary orbits a larger primary asteroid. However, how these asteroids became binary systems remains unclear. Here, we report the analysis of boulders on the surface of the stony asteroid (65803) Didymos and its moonlet, Dimorphos, from data collected by the NASA DART mission. The size-frequency distribution of boulders larger than 5 m on Dimorphos and larger than 22.8 m on Didymos confirms that both asteroids are piles of fragments produced in the catastrophic disruption of their progenitors. Dimorphos boulders smaller than 5 m have size best-fit by a Weibull distribution, which we attribute to a multi-phase fragmentation process either occurring during coalescence or during surface evolution. The density per km2 of Dimorphos boulders ≥1 m is 2.3x with respect to the one obtained for (101955) Bennu, while it is 3.0x with respect to (162173) Ryugu. Such values increase once Dimorphos boulders ≥5 m are compared with Bennu (3.5x), Ryugu (3.9x) and (25143) Itokawa (5.1x). This is of interest in the context of asteroid studies because it means that contrarily to the single bodies visited so far, binary systems might be affected by subsequential fragmentation processes that largely increase their block density per km2. Direct comparison between the surface distribution and shapes of the boulders on Didymos and Dimorphos suggest that the latter inherited its material from the former. This finding supports the hypothesis that some asteroid binary systems form through the spin up and mass shedding of a fraction of the primary asteroid.

Published
2024

8. The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos

Author

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Barnouin, Olivier, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Marchi, Simone, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Agrusa, Harrison F., Zhang, Yun, Ernst, Carolyn, Pajola, Maurizio, Tusberti, Filippo, Lucchetti, Alice, Daly, R. Terik, Palmer, Eric E., Walsh, Kevin J., Michel, Patrick, Sunshine, Jessica M., Rizos, Juan L., Farnham, Tony, Richardson, Derek C., Parro, Laura M., Murdoch, Naomi, Robin, Colas Q., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Kahout, Tomas, Asphaug, Erik, Raducan, Sabina D., Jutzi, Martin, Ferrari, Fabio, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy, Li, Jian-Yang, Cheng, Andy F., Nolan, Michael C., Stickle, Angela M., Karatekin, Ozgür, Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Rossi, Alessandro, Gai, Igor, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Bertini, Ivano, Zinzi, Angelo, Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., Beccarelli, Joel, Ivanovski, Stavro, Brucato, John Robert, Poggiali, Giovanni, Zanotti, Giovanni, Amoroso, Marilena, Capannolo, Andrea, Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lavagna, Michèle, Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, Rivkin, Andy, Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Barnouin, Olivier, Ballouz, Ronald-Louis, Marchi, Simone, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Agrusa, Harrison F., Zhang, Yun, Ernst, Carolyn, Pajola, Maurizio, Tusberti, Filippo, Lucchetti, Alice, Daly, R. Terik, Palmer, Eric E., Walsh, Kevin J., Michel, Patrick, Sunshine, Jessica M., Rizos, Juan L., Farnham, Tony, Richardson, Derek C., Parro, Laura M., Murdoch, Naomi, Robin, Colas Q., Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Kahout, Tomas, Asphaug, Erik, Raducan, Sabina D., Jutzi, Martin, Ferrari, Fabio, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy, Li, Jian-Yang, Cheng, Andy F., Nolan, Michael C., Stickle, Angela M., Karatekin, Ozgür, Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Rossi, Alessandro, Gai, Igor, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Bertini, Ivano, Zinzi, Angelo, Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., Beccarelli, Joel, Ivanovski, Stavro, Brucato, John Robert, Poggiali, Giovanni, Zanotti, Giovanni, Amoroso, Marilena, Capannolo, Andrea, Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lavagna, Michèle, Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Rivkin, Andy

Abstract

Images collected during NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission provide the first resolved views of the Didymos binary asteroid system. These images reveal that the primary asteroid, Didymos, is flattened and has plausible undulations along its equatorial perimeter. At high elevations, its surface is rough and contains large boulders and craters; at low elevations its surface is smooth and possesses fewer large boulders and craters. Didymos’ moon, Dimorphos, possesses an intimate mixture of boulders, several asteroid-wide lineaments, and a handful of craters. The surfaces of both asteroids include boulders that are large relative to their host body, suggesting that both asteroids are rubble piles. Based on these observations, our models indicate that Didymos has a surface cohesion ≤ 1 Pa and an interior cohesion of ∼10 Pa, while Dimorphos has a surface cohesion of <0.9 Pa. Crater size-frequency analyzes indicate the surface age of Didymos is 40–130 times older than Dimorphos, with likely absolute ages of ∼ 12.5 Myr and <0.3 Myr, respectively. Solar radiation could have increased Didymos’ spin rate leading to internal deformation and surface mass shedding, which likely created Dimorphos.

Published
2024

9. VADER: Probing the Dark Side of Dimorphos with LICIACube LUKE

Author

Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Zinzi, Angelo, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Della Corte, Vincenzo, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Gai, Igor, Lucchetti, Alice, Pajola, Maurizio, Rossi, Alessandro, Dotto, Elisabetta, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Daly, R. Terik, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Farnham, Tony, Ernst, Carolyn, Ivanovski, Stavro, Li, Jian-Yang, Parro, Laura M., Amoroso, Marilena, Beccarelli, Joel, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John Robert, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Negri, B., Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Poggiali, Giovanni, Tortora, Paolo, Tusberti, Filippo, Zannoni, Marco, Zanotti, Giovanni, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Zinzi, Angelo, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Della Corte, Vincenzo, Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, Gai, Igor, Lucchetti, Alice, Pajola, Maurizio, Rossi, Alessandro, Dotto, Elisabetta, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Daly, R. Terik, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Farnham, Tony, Ernst, Carolyn, Ivanovski, Stavro, Li, Jian-Yang, Parro, Laura M., Amoroso, Marilena, Beccarelli, Joel, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John Robert, Capannolo, Andrea, Caporali, S., Ceresoli, M., Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Gomez Casajus, L., Gramigna, E., Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lasagni Manghi, R., Lavagna, Michèle, Lombardo, M., Modenini, Dario, Negri, B., Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Poggiali, Giovanni, Tortora, Paolo, Tusberti, Filippo, Zannoni, Marco, and Zanotti, Giovanni

Abstract

The ASI cubesat LICIACube has been part of the first planetary defense mission DART, having among its scopes to complement the DRACO images to better constrain the Dimorphos shape. LICIACube had two different cameras, LEIA and LUKE, and to accomplish its goal, it exploited the unique possibility of acquiring images of the Dimorphos hemisphere not seen by DART from a vantage point of view, in both time and space. This work is indeed aimed at constraining the tridimensional shape of Dimorphos, starting from both LUKE images of the nonimpacted hemisphere of Dimorphos and the results obtained by DART looking at the impacted hemisphere. To this aim, we developed a semiautomatic Computer Vision algorithm, named VADER, able to identify objects of interest on the basis of physical characteristics, subsequently used as input to retrieve the shape of the ellipse projected in the LUKE images analyzed. Thanks to this shape, we then extracted information about the Dimorphos ellipsoid by applying a series of quantitative geometric considerations. Although the solution space coming from this analysis includes the triaxial ellipsoid found by using DART images, we cannot discard the possibility that Dimorphos has a more elongated shape, more similar to what is expected from previous theories and observations. The result of our work seems therefore to emphasize the unique value of the LICIACube mission and its images, making even clearer the need of having different points of view to accurately define the shape of an asteroid.

Published
2024

10. Achievement of the Planetary Defense Investigations of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission

Author

Chabot, Nancy L., primary, Rivkin, Andrew S., additional, Cheng, Andrew F., additional, Barnouin, Olivier S., additional, Fahnestock, Eugene G., additional, Richardson, Derek C., additional, Stickle, Angela M., additional, Thomas, Cristina A., additional, Ernst, Carolyn M., additional, Terik Daly, R., additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Zinzi, Angelo, additional, Chesley, Steven R., additional, Moskovitz, Nicholas A., additional, Barbee, Brent W., additional, Abell, Paul, additional, Agrusa, Harrison F., additional, Bannister, Michele T., additional, Beccarelli, Joel, additional, Bekker, Dmitriy L., additional, Bruck Syal, Megan, additional, Buratti, Bonnie J., additional, Busch, Michael W., additional, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, additional, Chatelain, Joseph P., additional, Chocron, Sidney, additional, Collins, Gareth S., additional, Conversi, Luca, additional, Davison, Thomas M., additional, DeCoster, Mallory E., additional, Prasanna Deshapriya, J. D., additional, Eggl, Siegfried, additional, Espiritu, Raymond C., additional, Farnham, Tony L., additional, Ferrais, Marin, additional, Ferrari, Fabio, additional, Föhring, Dora, additional, Fuentes-Muñoz, Oscar, additional, Gai, Igor, additional, Giordano, Carmine, additional, Glenar, David A., additional, Gomez, Edward, additional, Graninger, Dawn M., additional, Green, Simon F., additional, Greenstreet, Sarah, additional, Hasselmann, Pedro H., additional, Herreros, Isabel, additional, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, additional, Husárik, Marek, additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Ivanovski, Stavro L., additional, Jackson, Samuel L., additional, Jehin, Emmanuel, additional, Jutzi, Martin, additional, Karatekin, Ozgur, additional, Knight, Matthew M., additional, Kolokolova, Ludmilla, additional, Kumamoto, Kathryn M., additional, Küppers, Michael, additional, La Forgia, Fiorangela, additional, Lazzarin, Monica, additional, Li, Jian-Yang, additional, Lister, Tim A., additional, Lolachi, Ramin, additional, Lucas, Michael P., additional, Lucchetti, Alice, additional, Luther, Robert, additional, Makadia, Rahil, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, McMahon, Jay, additional, Merisio, Gianmario, additional, Merrill, Colby C., additional, Meyer, Alex J., additional, Michel, Patrick, additional, Micheli, Marco, additional, Migliorini, Alessandra, additional, Minker, Kate, additional, Modenini, Dario, additional, Moreno, Fernando, additional, Murdoch, Naomi, additional, Murphy, Brian, additional, Naidu, Shantanu P., additional, Nair, Hari, additional, Nakano, Ryota, additional, Opitom, Cyrielle, additional, Ormö, Jens, additional, Michael Owen, J., additional, Pajola, Maurizio, additional, Palmer, Eric E., additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Panicucci, Paolo, additional, Parro, Laura M., additional, Pearl, Jason M., additional, Penttilä, Antti, additional, Perna, Davide, additional, Petrescu, Elisabeta, additional, Pravec, Petr, additional, Raducan, Sabina D., additional, Ramesh, K. T., additional, Ridden-Harper, Ryan, additional, Rizos, Juan L., additional, Rossi, Alessandro, additional, Roth, Nathan X., additional, Rożek, Agata, additional, Rozitis, Benjamin, additional, Ryan, Eileen V., additional, Ryan, William H., additional, Sánchez, Paul, additional, Santana-Ros, Toni, additional, Scheeres, Daniel J., additional, Scheirich, Peter, additional, Berk Senel, Cem, additional, Snodgrass, Colin, additional, Soldini, Stefania, additional, Souami, Damya, additional, Statler, Thomas S., additional, Street, Rachel, additional, Stubbs, Timothy J., additional, Sunshine, Jessica M., additional, Tan, Nicole J., additional, Tancredi, Gonzalo, additional, Tinsman, Calley L., additional, Tortora, Paolo, additional, Tusberti, Filippo, additional, Walker, James D., additional, Waller, C. Dany, additional, Wünnemann, Kai, additional, Zannoni, Marco, additional, and Zhang, Yun, additional

Published
2024
Full Text
View/download PDF

11. Ejecta Evolution Following a Planned Impact into an Asteroid: The First Five Weeks

Author

Kareta, Theodore, primary, Thomas, Cristina, additional, Li, Jian-Yang, additional, Knight, Matthew M., additional, Moskovitz, Nicholas, additional, Rożek, Agata, additional, Bannister, Michele T., additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Snodgrass, Colin, additional, Pravec, Petr, additional, Ryan, Eileen V., additional, Ryan, William H., additional, Fahnestock, Eugene G., additional, Rivkin, Andrew S., additional, Chabot, Nancy, additional, Fitzsimmons, Alan, additional, Osip, David, additional, Lister, Tim, additional, Sarid, Gal, additional, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, additional, Farnham, Tony, additional, Tancredi, Gonzalo, additional, Michel, Patrick, additional, Wainscoat, Richard, additional, Weryk, Rob, additional, Burrati, Bonnie, additional, Pittichová, Jana, additional, Ridden-Harper, Ryan, additional, Tan, Nicole J., additional, Tristram, Paul, additional, Brown, Tyler, additional, Bonavita, Mariangela, additional, Burgdorf, Martin, additional, Khalouei, Elahe, additional, Longa, Penelope, additional, Rabus, Markus, additional, Sajadian, Sedighe, additional, Jorgensen, Uffe Graae, additional, Dominik, Martin, additional, Kikwaya, Jean-Baptiste, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Deshapriya, Prasanna, additional, Hasselmann, Pedro, additional, Dall’Ora, Massimo, additional, Abe, Lyu, additional, Guillot, Tristan, additional, Mékarnia, Djamel, additional, Agabi, Abdelkrim, additional, Bendjoya, Philippe, additional, Suarez, Olga, additional, Triaud, Amaury, additional, Gasparetto, Thomas, additional, Günther, Maximillian N., additional, Kueppers, Michael, additional, Merin, Bruno, additional, Chatelain, Joseph, additional, Gomez, Edward, additional, Usher, Helen, additional, Stoddard-Jones, Cai, additional, Bartnik, Matthew, additional, Bellaver, Michael, additional, Chetan, Brenna, additional, Dugan, Emma, additional, Fallon, Tori, additional, Fedewa, Jeremy, additional, Gerhard, Caitlyn, additional, Jacobson, Seth A., additional, Painter, Shane, additional, Peterson, David-Michael, additional, Rodriguez, Joseph E., additional, Smith, Cody, additional, Sokolovsky, Kirill V., additional, Sullivan, Hannah, additional, Townley, Kate, additional, Watson, Sarah, additional, Webb, Levi, additional, Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., additional, Llenas, Josep M., additional, Pérez-García, Ignacio, additional, Castro-Tirado, A. J., additional, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, additional, Migliorini, Alessandra, additional, Lazzarin, Monica, additional, La Forgia, Fiorangela, additional, Ferrari, Fabio, additional, Polakis, Tom, additional, and Skiff, Brian, additional

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

13. The ‘small’ asteroid population: a spectroscopic survey

Author

Michimani, Jonatan, primary, Rondón, Eduardo, additional, Perna, Davide, additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Barucci, Antonella, additional, Petropoulou, Vasiliki, additional, and Lazzaro, Daniela, additional

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

14. Ejecta from the DART-produced active asteroid Dimorphos

Author

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Li, Jian-Yang, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Farnham, Tony, Sunshine, Jessica M., Knight, Matthew M., Tancredi, Gonzalo, Moreno, Fernando, Murphy, Brian, Opitom, Cyrielle, Chesley, Steven, Scheeres, Daniel J., Thomas, Cristina, Fahnestock, Eugene G., Cheng, Andy F., Dressel, Linda, Ernst, Carolyn, Ferrari, Fabio, Fitzsimmons, Alan, Ieva, Simone, Ivanovski, Stavro, Kareta, Teddy, Kolokolova, Ludmilla, Lister, Tim, Raducan, Sabina D., Rivkin, Andy, Rossi, Alessandro, Soldini, Stefania, Stickle, Angela M., Vick, Alison, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Weaver, Harold A., Bagnulo, Stefano, Bannister, Michele T., Cambioni, Saverio, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy, Cremonese, Gabriele, Daly, R. Terik, Dotto, Elisabetta, Glenar, David A., Granvik, Mikael, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Herreros, Isabel, Jacobson, Seth A., Jutzi, Martin, Kohout, Tomas, La Forgia, Fiorangela, Lazzarin, Monica, Lin, Zhong-Yi, Lolachi, Ramin, Lucchetti, Alice, Makadia, Rahil, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Michel, Patrick, Migliorini, Alessandra, Moskovitz, Nicholas A., Ormö, Jens, Pajola, Maurizio, Sánchez, Paul, Schwartz, Stephen R., Snodgrass, Colin, Steckloff, Jordan, Stubbs, Timothy J., Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías, Li, Jian-Yang, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Farnham, Tony, Sunshine, Jessica M., Knight, Matthew M., Tancredi, Gonzalo, Moreno, Fernando, Murphy, Brian, Opitom, Cyrielle, Chesley, Steven, Scheeres, Daniel J., Thomas, Cristina, Fahnestock, Eugene G., Cheng, Andy F., Dressel, Linda, Ernst, Carolyn, Ferrari, Fabio, Fitzsimmons, Alan, Ieva, Simone, Ivanovski, Stavro, Kareta, Teddy, Kolokolova, Ludmilla, Lister, Tim, Raducan, Sabina D., Rivkin, Andy, Rossi, Alessandro, Soldini, Stefania, Stickle, Angela M., Vick, Alison, Vincent, Jean-Baptiste, Weaver, Harold A., Bagnulo, Stefano, Bannister, Michele T., Cambioni, Saverio, Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Chabot, Nancy, Cremonese, Gabriele, Daly, R. Terik, Dotto, Elisabetta, Glenar, David A., Granvik, Mikael, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Herreros, Isabel, Jacobson, Seth A., Jutzi, Martin, Kohout, Tomas, La Forgia, Fiorangela, Lazzarin, Monica, Lin, Zhong-Yi, Lolachi, Ramin, Lucchetti, Alice, Makadia, Rahil, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Michel, Patrick, Migliorini, Alessandra, Moskovitz, Nicholas A., Ormö, Jens, Pajola, Maurizio, Sánchez, Paul, Schwartz, Stephen R., Snodgrass, Colin, Steckloff, Jordan, Stubbs, Timothy J., and Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M.

Abstract

Some active asteroids have been proposed to be the result of impact events1. Because active asteroids are generally discovered serendipitously only after their tail formation, the process of the impact ejecta evolving into a tail has never been directly observed. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission2, apart from having successfully changed the orbital period of Dimorphos3, demonstrated the activation process of an asteroid from an impact under precisely known impact conditions. Here we report the observations of the DART impact ejecta with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) from impact time T+15 minutes to T+18.5 days at spatial resolutions of ~2.1 km per pixel. Our observations reveal a complex evolution of ejecta, which is first dominated by the gravitational interaction between the Didymos binary system and the ejected dust and later by solar radiation pressure. The lowest-speed ejecta dispersed via a sustained tail that displayed a consistent morphology with previously observed asteroid tails thought to be produced by impact4,5. The ejecta evolution following DART’s controlled impact experiment thus provides a framework for understanding the fundamental mechanisms acting on asteroids disrupted by natural impact1,6.

Published
2023

15. Before the DART impact: LICIACube - The Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids

Author

Ivanovski, Stavro Lambrov, Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Ieva, Simone, Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John, Capannolo, Andrea, Cotugno, Biaggio, Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall Ora, Massimo, Don, Prasanna Deshapriya Jasinghege, Di Tana, Valerio, Gai, Igor, Hasselmann, Pedro Henrique, Impresario, Gabriele, Lavagna, Michèle, Lucchetti, Alice, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, and Meneghin, Andrea

Abstract

Introduction: In late September 2022 the NASA mission DART will perform the first test of the kinetic impactor technique conceived to deflect an asteroid en route to Earth. With a mass of 650 kg and an impact velocity of about 6.6 km/s, DART is expected to change the binary orbital period of Dimorphos, the 160-m moon of Didymos Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), by about 10 min, an effect that can be easily measured by ground-based telescopes [1] [2]. LICIACube: LICIACube (Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids) is the first purely Italian spacecraft to be operated in deep space. It is a 6U cubesat platform developed by the Argotec company and managed by the Italian Space Agengy (ASI) with the aim to contribute in the NASA DART Planetary Defence objective and to perform autonomous science at the asteroid [3]. LICIACube has been launched together with DART on November 2021: after a 10-months interplanetary cruise it will be released 10 days before the foreseen DART impact on Dimorphos and it will be guided along its fly-by trajectory with a closest approach (CA) of around 55 km from the Dimorphos’ surface (Fig. 1). Figure 1 – The nominal LICIACube mission LICIACube is equipped with two different payloads named LEIA (Liciacube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid) and LUKE (Liciacube Unit Key Explorer) (Fig. 2). High-resolution images, obtained by LEIA at the CA (up to 1.5 m/px) will allow us to study the surface morphology of Dimorphos and the presence of boulders/large blocks on its surface. The LUKE data (up to 8 m/px at CA, with a RGB filter system) will give us also the opportunity to investigate the composition of Dimorphos throughout spectrophotometric analyses. It will then be possible to map the surface composition of the object and to derive the surface heterogeneity at the observed scale. After imaging the DART impact, during the fly-by the two instruments will allow us to investigate the nature of the target, explore the difference between the impact and non-impact regions, and to study the nature and the evolution of the produced plume, in order to deeply investigate the composition and the structure of the material composing a small double NEA. Figure 2 – LICIACube and its payload After the Dimorphos fly-by, LICIACube will download the obtained images directly to Earth: the LICIACube Ground Segment has a complex architecture based on the Argotec Mission Control Centre, antennas of the NASA Deep Space Network and data archiving and processing, managed at the ASI Space Science Data Center. Acknowledgements: The LICIACube team acknowledges financial support from Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, contract No. 2019-31-HH.0 CUP F84I190012600). References: [1] Rivkin A.S. et al., (2021) PSJ, in press. [2] Cheng A. F., et al. (2018) PSS, 157, 104. [3] Dotto E., et al. (2021) PSS 199, 105185.

Published
2022

16. Statistical clustering analysis of NEOs to find correlations with spectral classes

Author

Deshapriya, J. D. Prasanna, primary, Perna, Davide, additional, Bott, Nicolas, additional, Hasselmann, Pedro Henrique, additional, Granvik, Mikael, additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Fulchignoni, Marcello, additional, Giunta, Alessio, additional, Perozzi, Ettore, additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Petropoulou, Vasiliki, additional, and Mazzotta-Epifani, Elena, additional

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

17. SmallSat exploration of Near-Earth and co-orbital asteroids

Author

Perna, Davide, primary, Casalino, Lorenzo, additional, Cremonese, Gabriele, additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Fulvio, Daniele, additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Ivanovski, Stavro, additional, Lavagna, Michèle, additional, Lucchetti, Alice, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Milillo, Anna, additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Pajola, Maurizio, additional, Rossi, Alessandro, additional, Tortora, Paolo, additional, and Zannoni, Marco, additional

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

18. The Integral-Field Imager and Spectrometer for planetary exploration (ƒISPEx)

Author

Filacchione, Gianrico, primary, Tarabini, Marco, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Ciarniello, Mauro, additional, Piccioni, Giuseppe, additional, Raponi, Andrea, additional, Saggin, Bortolino, additional, Kanuchova, Zuzana, additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Guerri, Irene, additional, Taiti, Alessio, additional, Ficai-Veltroni, Iacopo, additional, Barilli, Marco, additional, Pelli, Stefano, additional, Cosi, Franco, additional, Galiano, Anna, additional, Zambelli, Massimo, additional, Biondi, David, additional, Boccaccini, Angelo, additional, Nuccilli, Fabrizio, additional, and Giusti, Manuela, additional

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

19. Expected Investigation of the (65803) Didymos–Dimorphos System Using the RGB Spectrophotometry Data Set from the LICIACube Unit Key Explorer (LUKE) Wide-angle Camera

Author

Poggiali, Giovanni, primary, Brucato, John R., additional, Hasselmann, Pedro H., additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Perna, Davide, additional, Pajola, Maurizio, additional, Lucchetti, Alice, additional, Deshapriya, Jasinghege D. P., additional, Della Corte, Vincenzo, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Rossi, Alessandro, additional, Ivanovski, Stavro L., additional, Zinzi, Angelo, additional, Meneghin, Andrea, additional, Amoroso, Marilena, additional, Pirrotta, Simone, additional, Impresario, Gabriele, additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Bertini, Ivano, additional, Capannolo, Andrea, additional, Cremonese, Gabriele, additional, Cotugno, Biagio, additional, Dall’Ora, Massimo, additional, Di Tana, Valerio, additional, Gai, Igor, additional, Lavagna, Michèle, additional, Miglioretti, Federico, additional, Modenini, Dario, additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Simioni, Emanuele, additional, Simonetti, Simone, additional, Tortora, Paolo, additional, Zannoni, Marco, additional, and Zanotti, Giovanni, additional

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

20. The SSDC Role in the LICIACube Mission: Data Management and the MATISSE Tool

Author

Zinzi, Angelo, primary, Della Corte, Vincenzo, additional, Ivanovski, Stavro L., additional, Lucchetti, Alice, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Miglioretti, Federico, additional, Pajola, Maurizio, additional, Rossi, Alessandro, additional, Barnouin, Olivier, additional, Espiritu, Raymond C., additional, Dotto, Elisabetta, additional, Amoroso, Marilena, additional, Bertini, Ivano, additional, Brucato, John R., additional, Capannolo, Andrea, additional, Cremonese, Gabriele, additional, Cotugno, Biagio, additional, Dall’Ora, Massimo, additional, Deshapriya, Jasinghege D. P., additional, Di Tana, Valerio, additional, Gai, Igor, additional, Hasselmann, Pedro H. A., additional, Ieva, Simone, additional, Impresario, Gabriele, additional, Lavagna, Michèle, additional, Meneghin, Andrea, additional, Modenini, Dario, additional, Perna, Davide, additional, Pirrotta, Simone, additional, Poggiali, Giovanni, additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Simioni, Emanuele, additional, Simonetti, Simone, additional, Tortora, Paolo, additional, Zannoni, Marco, additional, and Zanotti, Giovanni, additional

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

21. NEOROCKS: An innovative and pragmatic approach to planetary defense

Author

Petropoulou, Vasiliki, Dotto, Elisabetta, Banaszkiewicz, Marek, Bianchi, Sara, Barucci, Maria Antonietta, Bernardi, Fabrizio, Birlan, Mirel, Carry, Benoit, Cellino, Alberto, de Leon, Julia, Lazzarin, Monica, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Ieva, Simone, Mediavilla Garay, Anabel, Nomen Torres, Jaime, Perna, Davide, Perozzi, Ettore, Pravec, Petr, and Teodorescu, Claudiu

Subjects
Near Earth Asteroids, Horizon2020, NEOROCKS, Horizon2020, Near Earth Asteroids, NEOROCKS
Published
2022

22. First spectral characterization at different rotational phases for the first target of a kinetic impactor mission: (65803) Didymos

Author

Ieva, Simone, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Perna, Davide, Dall'Ora, Massimo, Petropoulou, Vasiliki, Deshapriya, J. D. P., Hasselmann, Pedro Henrique, Rossi, Alessandro, Poggiali, Giovanni, Brucato, John R., Pajola, Maurizio, Lucchetti, Alice, Ivanovski, Stavro, Palumbo, Pasquale, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Zinzi, Angelo, Rivkin, Andrew, Thomas, Cristina, de Leon, Julia, Dotto, Elisabetta, Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Capannolo, Andrea, Cotugno, Biagio, Cremonese, Gabriele, Di Tana, Valerio, Gai, Igor, Impresario, Gabriele, Lavagna, Michèle Roberta, Meneghin, Andrea, Miglioretti, Federico, Modenini, Dario, Pirrotta, Simone, Emanuele, Simioni, Simonetti, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Zanotti, Giovanni

Published
2022

23. A dedicated simulation chain for Hypervelocity Impacts effects on DISC sensor

Author

Piccirillo, Alice Maria, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Ferretti, Stefano, Musolino, Anna, Zakharov, Vladimir, di Paolo, Federico, Rotundi, Alessandra, Ammannito, Eleonora, Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Ferraioli, Giampaolo, Fiscale, Stefano, Fulle, Marco, Inno, Laura, Longobardo, Andrea, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Muscari Tomajoli, Maria Teresa, Sindoni, Giuseppe, and Tonietti, Luca

Published
2022

24. LICIACube: the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids traveling to Dimorphos with DART

Author

Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John Robert, Capannolo, Andrea, Cotugno, Biagio, Cremonese, Gabriele, Dall'Ora, Massimo, Deshapriya, J. D. P., Di Tana, Valerio, Gai, Igor, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Ivanovski, Stavro, Lavagna, Michèle Roberta, Lucchetti, Alice, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Hasselmann, Pedro Henrique, Meneghin, Andrea, Miglioretti, Federico, Modenini, Dario, Pajola, Maurizio, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Poggiali, Giovanni, Rossi, Alessandro, Emanuele, Simioni, Simonetti, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, Zanotti, Giovanni, Zinzi, Angelo, Cheng, Andrew, Rivkin, Andrew, Adams, Elena, Reynolds, Edward, and Fretz, Kristin

Published
2022

26. ƒISPEx, the Integral-Field Imager and Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration

Author

Filacchione, Gianrico, primary, Tarabini, Marco, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Ciarniello, Mauro, additional, Piccioni, Giuseppe, additional, Raponi, Andrea, additional, Saggin, Bortolino, additional, Kanuchova, Zuzana, additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Guerri, Irene, additional, Taiti, Alessio, additional, Novi, Samuele, additional, Barilli, Marco, additional, Zambelli, Massimo, additional, Biondi, David, additional, Boccaccini, Angelo, additional, Nuccilli, Fabrizio, additional, and Giusti, Manuela, additional

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

27. LICIACube: the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids

Author

Dotto, Elisabetta, Cremonese, Gabriele, Rossi, Alessandro, Tortora, Paolo, Brucato, John Robert, Lavagna, Michèle Roberta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Lucchetti, Alice, Ivanovski, Stavro, Pirrotta, Simone, Zannoni, Marco, Pajola, Maurizio, Poggiali, Giovanni, Zinzi, Angelo, Amoroso, Marilena, Perna, Davide, Zanotti, Giovanni, Di Tana, Valerio, Capannolo, Andrea, Gai, Igor Miglioretti, Federico, Simonetti, Simone, Ieva, Simone, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Meneghin, Andrea, Palumbo, Pasquale, Bertini, Ivano, Impresario, Gabriele, and Cotugno, Biagio

Subjects
Near Earth Asteroids, DART/LICIACube mission
Abstract

"LICIACube - the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids" is a space mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), based on a 6U cubesat that will be part of the NASA DART mission. It has the aim to enhance the information gained from the main probe impact on the secondary member of the (65803) Didymos binary asteroid system and to allow dedicated scientific investigations. DART probe will be launched in mid 2021 and LICIACube will be hosted as piggyback during the 15 months of interplanetary cruise, then released five days before the impact and autonomously guided along its fly-by trajectory. Several unique images of the effects of the DART impact on the asteroid, such as e.g. the formation and the development of the plume potentially determined by the impact itself, will be collected and transmitted to Earth. LICIACube, whose design, integration and test have been assigned to the aerospace company Argotec, is an ASI project. The scientific team is led by National Institute of Astrophysics (OAR, IAPS, OAA, OAPd, OATs) with the support of IFAC-CNR and University Parthenope of Naples. The team is enriched by University of Bologna, for orbit determination and satellite navigation, and Polytechnic of Milan, for mission analysis and optimization. LICIACube will be the first Italian autonomous mission in deep space, also for the Ground Segment, with data archiving and processing managed by the ASI Space Science Data Center: the whole project and its present status-of-the-art will be presented and discussed together with the in situ observing strategy and the expected performances.

Published
2021

28. LICIACube - the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroid onboad DART

Author

Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John Robert, Capannolo, Andrea, Cotugno, Biagio, Cremonese, Gabriele, Di Tana, Valerio, Gai, Igor, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Lambrov Ivanovski, Stavro, Lavagna, Michèle, Lucchetti, Alice, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Meneghin, Andrea, Miglioretti, Federico, Modenini, Dario, and Pajola, Maurizio

Published
2021

29. Non-spherical dust dynamics of the plume evolution in support of the LICIACube mission

Author

Ivanovski, Stavro, Cremonese, Gabriele, Palumbo, Pasquale, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Rossi, Alessandro, Tortora, Paolo, Brucato, John Robert, and Lavagna, Michèle

Subjects
Near Earth Asteroids, Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, Ejecta Dynamics, DART/LICIACube mission
Abstract

Among the main scientific objectives of the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) spacecraft, an Italian Space Agency space mission, the study of the plume ejecta evolution after the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impact is of particular importance. We focus on investigating the dust dynamics of the plume evolution using numerical simulations of dust particles motion. The particles dynamics is governed by two main forces - gravity and solar radiation pressure. In our simulations the dust dynamical behavior was evaluated assuming initial velocity and torque of the particle after the DART impact. Based on a 3D+t non-spherical dust model that solves the Euler dynamical and kinetic equations and considering free-collisional dust regime we study the effects on the particle dynamics considering different shapes, initial particle orientation and velocities as well as torque. In addition, we performed dust simulations for different surface material cases considering the physical parameters of (65803) Didymos. The optical thickness of the plume varies not only due to the particles size distribution but also due to their shapes and orientations. Indeed, if a particle is characterized by an initial torque and hence rotate during the plume evolution then its velocity will be different than a non-rotating one with the same mass, shape and size. We are currently using a point source scaling model for initial setup of parameters. In this work we will shortly address at what distance particles could eventually stop to accelerate/decelerate as a result of the balance among the forces governing their motion. This study coupled with LICIACube plume images will further constrain the momentum transfer efficiency ?, in particular the local surface properties as strength, density and porosity as well as the ejecta velocity and size distribution.

Published
2021

30. LICIACube: Physical Properties of (65803) Didymos

Author

Dotto, Elisabetta, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Amoroso, Marilena, Bertini, Ivano, Brucato, John R., Capannolo, Andrea, Cremonese, Gabriele, Cotugno, Biagio, Dall'Ora, Massimo, Di Tana, Valerio, Gai, Igor, Ieva, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Ivanovski, Stavro L., Lavagna, Michèle, Lucchetti, Alice, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Meneghin, Andrea, Miglioretti, Federico, Modenini, Dario, Pajola, Maurizio, Palumbo, Pasquale, Perna, Davide, Pirrotta, Simone, Poggiali, Giovanni, Rossi, Alessandro, Simioni, Emanuele search by orcid, Simonetti, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, Zanotti, Giovanni, Zinzi, Angelo, Cheng, Andrew F., Rivkin, Andrew, Adams, Elena Y., Reynolds, Edward L., and Fretz, Kristin

Published
2021

32. A comprehensive survey on small NEOs: the NEOShield-2 legacy

Author

Ieva, Simone, Perna, Davide, Fanasca, Cristina, Dotto, Elisabetta, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena search by orcid, Di Paola, Andrea search by orcid, Gunta, Alessio, Lazzarin, Monica, Bertini, Ivano, Petropoulou, Vasiliki, Lazzaro, Daniela, Arcoverde, Plicida, Rondon, Eduardo, Medeiros, Hissa, Monteiro, Filipe, Micheli, Marco, Perozzi, Ettore, and Barucci, Maria Antonietta

Published
2019

33. Extended photometric survey of Near-Earth Objects

Author

Ieva, Simone, Dotto, Elisabetta, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena search by orcid, Perna, Davide, Rossi, Alessandro, Di Paola, Andrea, Giunta, Alessio, Micheli, Marco, Perozzi, Ettore, Speziali, Roberto, Lazzarin, Monica, Bertini, Ivano, Ochner, Paolo, Petropoulou, Vasiliki, Lazzaro, Daniela, Arcoverde, Plicida, Medeiros, Hissa, and Monteiro, Filipe

Published
2018

35. Investigating the composition of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids with the NEO-SURFACE survey

Author

IEVA, Simone, DOTTO, Elisabetta, PERNA, Davide, Barucci, M. A., Bernardi, F., Perozzi, E., Micheli, M., MAZZOTTA EPIFANI, Elena, BRUCATO, John Robert, Fornasier, S., DE LUISE, Fiore, ROSSI, Andrea, and ITA

Subjects
Near Earth Asteroids, spectroscopy
Abstract

There is a high degree of diversity among the physical properties of the Potentially Hazardous asteroids (PHAs). For these objects, the physical characterization is essential to define a successful mitigation mission, therefore ground-based surveys like NEO-SURFACE could provide a fundamental contribution. Our analysis suggest a prevalence of silicate S-types in the PHA population, which could be due in principle to the high efficiency of the transport mechanisms in the inner main belt, or to an observational bias due to the fact that S-types are brighter.

Published
2015

38. The JANUS camera onboard JUICE mission for Jupiter system optical imaging

Author

Della Corte, Vincenzo, additional, Schmitz, Nicole, additional, Zusi, Michele, additional, Castro, José Maria, additional, Leese, Mark, additional, Debei, Stefano, additional, Magrin, Demetrio, additional, Michalik, Harald, additional, Palumbo, Pasquale, additional, Jaumann, Ralf, additional, Cremonese, Gabriele, additional, Hoffmann, Harald, additional, Holland, Andrew, additional, Lara, Luisa Maria, additional, Fiethe, Björn, additional, Friso, Enrico, additional, Greggio, Davide, additional, Herranz, Miguel, additional, Koncz, Alexander, additional, Lichopoj, Alexander, additional, Martinez-Navajas, Ignacio, additional, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, additional, Michaelis, Harald, additional, Ragazzoni, Roberto, additional, Roatsch, Thomas, additional, Rodrigo, Julio, additional, Rodriguez, Emilio, additional, Schipani, Pietro, additional, Soman, Matthew, additional, and Zaccariotto, Mirco, additional

Published
2014
Full Text
View/download PDF

40. The JANUS camera onboard JUICE mission for Jupiter system optical imaging

Author

Oschmann, Jacobus M., Clampin, Mark, Fazio, Giovanni G., MacEwen, Howard A., Della Corte, Vincenzo, Schmitz, Nicole, Zusi, Michele, Castro, José Maria, Leese, Mark, Debei, Stefano, Magrin, Demetrio, Michalik, Harald, Palumbo, Pasquale, Jaumann, Ralf, Cremonese, Gabriele, Hoffmann, Harald, Holland, Andrew, Lara, Luisa Maria, Fiethe, Björn, Friso, Enrico, Greggio, Davide, Herranz, Miguel, Koncz, Alexander, Lichopoj, Alexander, Martinez-Navajas, Ignacio, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Michaelis, Harald, Ragazzoni, Roberto, Roatsch, Thomas, Rodrigo, Julio, Rodriguez, Emilio, Schipani, Pietro, Soman, Matthew, and Zaccariotto, Mirco

Published
2014
Full Text
View/download PDF

41. GIADA on-board Rosetta: comet 67P/C-G dust coma characterization

Author

Rotundi, Alessandra, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Fulle, Marco, Sordini, Roberto, Ivanovski, Stavro, Accolla, Mario, Ferrari, Marco, Lucarelli, Francesca, Zakharov, Vladimir, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, López-Moreno, José J., Rodríguez, Julio, Colangeli, Luigi, Palumbo, Pasquale, Bussoletti, Ezio, Crifo, Jean-Francois, Francesca Esposito, Green, Simon F., Grün, Eberhard, and Lamy, Philippe L.

42. Monitoring Comet 67P/C-G Micrometer Dust Flux: GIADA onboard Rosetta

Author

Della Corte, Vincenzo, Rotundi, Alessandra, Ivanovski, Stavro, Accolla, Mario, Ferrari, Marco, Sordini, Roberto, Lucarelli, Francesca, Zakharov, Vladimir, marco fulle, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, López-Moreno, José J., Rodríguez, Julio, Colangeli, Luigi, Palumbo, Pasquale, Bussoletti, Ezio, Crifo, Jean-Francois, Esposito, Francesca, Green, Simon F., Grün, Eberhard, and Lamy, Philippe L.

43. Dust Measurements in the Coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Inbound to the Sun Between 3.7 and 3.4 AU

Author

Rotundi, Alessandra, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Fulle, Marco, Marco Ferrari, Sordini, Roberto, Ivanovski, Stavro, Accolla, Mario, Lucarelli, Francesca, Zakharov, Vladimir, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, López-Moreno, José J., Rodríguez, Julio, Colangeli, Luigi, Palumbo, Pasquale, Bussoletti, Ezio, Crifo, Jean-Francois, Esposito, Francesca, Green, Simon F., Grün, Eberhard, and Lamy, Philippe L.

45. Expected Investigation of the (65803) Didymos–Dimorphos System Using the RGB Spectrophotometry Data Set from the LICIACube Unit Key Explorer (LUKE) Wide-angle Camera

Author

Giovanni Poggiali, John R. Brucato, Pedro H. Hasselmann, Simone Ieva, Davide Perna, Maurizio Pajola, Alice Lucchetti, Jasinghege D. P. Deshapriya, Vincenzo Della Corte, Elena Mazzotta Epifani, Alessandro Rossi, Stavro L. Ivanovski, Angelo Zinzi, Andrea Meneghin, Marilena Amoroso, Simone Pirrotta, Gabriele Impresario, Elisabetta Dotto, Ivano Bertini, Andrea Capannolo, Gabriele Cremonese, Biagio Cotugno, Massimo Dall’Ora, Valerio Di Tana, Igor Gai, Michèle Lavagna, Federico Miglioretti, Dario Modenini, Pasquale Palumbo, Emanuele Simioni, Simone Simonetti, Paolo Tortora, Marco Zannoni, Giovanni Zanotti, Poggiali, Giovanni, Brucato, John R., Hasselmann, Pedro H., Ieva, Simone, Perna, Davide, Pajola, Maurizio, Lucchetti, Alice, Deshapriya, Jasinghege D. P., Della Corte, Vincenzo, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, Rossi, Alessandro, Ivanovski, Stavro L., Zinzi, Angelo, Meneghin, Andrea, Amoroso, Marilena, Pirrotta, Simone, Impresario, Gabriele, Dotto, Elisabetta, Bertini, Ivano, Capannolo, Andrea, Cremonese, Gabriele, Cotugno, Biagio, Dall’Ora, Massimo, Di Tana, Valerio, Gai, Igor, Lavagna, Michèle, Miglioretti, Federico, Modenini, Dario, Palumbo, Pasquale, Simioni, Emanuele, Simonetti, Simone, Tortora, Paolo, Zannoni, Marco, and Zanotti, Giovanni

Subjects
Phase angle (1217), Geophysics, Asteroids (72), RGB photometry (1397), Laboratory astrophysics (2004), Space and Planetary Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous), Multivariate analysis (1913), Astronomy and Astrophysics, Near-Earth objects (1092), Near infrared astronomy (1093)
Abstract

The Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) is part of the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first mission aiming to demonstrate the applicability of the kinetic impactor method for planetary defense. The mission was launched on 2021 November 24 to perform the impact experiment on Dimorphos, the small secondary of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos. The 6U LICIACube, stored as a piggyback of the DART spacecraft, is the first Italian mission operating in deep space managed by the Italian Space Agency that will witness the effects of the DART impact on Dimorphos. On board LICIACube, there is a suite of cameras that will perform imaging of Didymos and Dimorphos to investigate the DART impact effects and study the binary system. Among them, the LICIACube Unit Key Explorer (LUKE), a wide-angle camera coupled to an RGB Bayer pattern filter, will be pivotal to constrain the surface composition and heterogeneity of the binary system due to differences in surface properties linked with possible space weathering effects and/or the presence of exogenous material. Multiband photometric analysis of LUKE data and laboratory experiments in support of data interpretation will provide new insights on the binary asteroid nature and evolution. Moreover, photometric phase curve analysis will reveal the scattering properties of the granular surface medium providing important constraints for the microphysical properties of the Didymos–Dimorphos system. In this work, we will present the state of the art of the LUKE scientific activities with an overview of the instrument setup, science operations, and expected results.

Published
2022

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results