1. Achievement of the Planetary Defense Investigations of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission
- Author
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Nancy L. Chabot, Andrew S. Rivkin, Andrew F. Cheng, Olivier S. Barnouin, Eugene G. Fahnestock, Derek C. Richardson, Angela M. Stickle, Cristina A. Thomas, Carolyn M. Ernst, R. Terik Daly, Elisabetta Dotto, Angelo Zinzi, Steven R. Chesley, Nicholas A. Moskovitz, Brent W. Barbee, Paul Abell, Harrison F. Agrusa, Michele T. Bannister, Joel Beccarelli, Dmitriy L. Bekker, Megan Bruck Syal, Bonnie J. Buratti, Michael W. Busch, Adriano Campo Bagatin, Joseph P. Chatelain, Sidney Chocron, Gareth S. Collins, Luca Conversi, Thomas M. Davison, Mallory E. DeCoster, J. D. Prasanna Deshapriya, Siegfried Eggl, Raymond C. Espiritu, Tony L. Farnham, Marin Ferrais, Fabio Ferrari, Dora Föhring, Oscar Fuentes-Muñoz, Igor Gai, Carmine Giordano, David A. Glenar, Edward Gomez, Dawn M. Graninger, Simon F. Green, Sarah Greenstreet, Pedro H. Hasselmann, Isabel Herreros, Masatoshi Hirabayashi, Marek Husárik, Simone Ieva, Stavro L. Ivanovski, Samuel L. Jackson, Emmanuel Jehin, Martin Jutzi, Ozgur Karatekin, Matthew M. Knight, Ludmilla Kolokolova, Kathryn M. Kumamoto, Michael Küppers, Fiorangela La Forgia, Monica Lazzarin, Jian-Yang Li, Tim A. Lister, Ramin Lolachi, Michael P. Lucas, Alice Lucchetti, Robert Luther, Rahil Makadia, Elena Mazzotta Epifani, Jay McMahon, Gianmario Merisio, Colby C. Merrill, Alex J. Meyer, Patrick Michel, Marco Micheli, Alessandra Migliorini, Kate Minker, Dario Modenini, Fernando Moreno, Naomi Murdoch, Brian Murphy, Shantanu P. Naidu, Hari Nair, Ryota Nakano, Cyrielle Opitom, Jens Ormö, J. Michael Owen, Maurizio Pajola, Eric E. Palmer, Pasquale Palumbo, Paolo Panicucci, Laura M. Parro, Jason M. Pearl, Antti Penttilä, Davide Perna, Elisabeta Petrescu, Petr Pravec, Sabina D. Raducan, K. T. Ramesh, Ryan Ridden-Harper, Juan L. Rizos, Alessandro Rossi, Nathan X. Roth, Agata Rożek, Benjamin Rozitis, Eileen V. Ryan, William H. Ryan, Paul Sánchez, Toni Santana-Ros, Daniel J. Scheeres, Peter Scheirich, Cem Berk Senel, Colin Snodgrass, Stefania Soldini, Damya Souami, Thomas S. Statler, Rachel Street, Timothy J. Stubbs, Jessica M. Sunshine, Nicole J. Tan, Gonzalo Tancredi, Calley L. Tinsman, Paolo Tortora, Filippo Tusberti, James D. Walker, C. Dany Waller, Kai Wünnemann, Marco Zannoni, and Yun Zhang
- Subjects
Asteroids ,Small Solar System bodies ,Near-Earth objects ,Asteroid satellites ,Planetary science ,Solar system astronomy ,Astronomy ,QB1-991 - Abstract
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was the first to demonstrate asteroid deflection, and the mission's Level 1 requirements guided its planetary defense investigations. Here, we summarize DART's achievement of those requirements. On 2022 September 26, the DART spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the secondary member of the Didymos near-Earth asteroid binary system, demonstrating an autonomously navigated kinetic impact into an asteroid with limited prior knowledge for planetary defense. Months of subsequent Earth-based observations showed that the binary orbital period was changed by –33.24 minutes, with two independent analysis methods each reporting a 1 σ uncertainty of 1.4 s. Dynamical models determined that the momentum enhancement factor, β , resulting from DART's kinetic impact test is between 2.4 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos, which remains the largest source of uncertainty. Over five dozen telescopes across the globe and in space, along with the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids, have contributed to DART's investigations. These combined investigations have addressed topics related to the ejecta, dynamics, impact event, and properties of both asteroids in the binary system. A year following DART's successful impact into Dimorphos, the mission has achieved its planetary defense requirements, although work to further understand DART's kinetic impact test and the Didymos system will continue. In particular, ESA's Hera mission is planned to perform extensive measurements in 2027 during its rendezvous with the Didymos–Dimorphos system, building on DART to advance our knowledge and continue the ongoing international collaboration for planetary defense.
- Published
- 2024
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