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

M. Pajola et al.
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.
This work was supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) within the LICIACube project (ASI-INAF agreement AC n. 2019-31-HH.0). This work was supported by the DART mission, NASA Contract No. 80MSFC20D0004. E.A. is funded by the University of Arizona. S.S. acknowledges support from NASA as part of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Participating Scientist Program. J.M.T.-R. is funded by the research project (PGC2018-097374-B-I00), funded by FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación—Agencia Estatal de Investigación. P.M. acknowledges ESA as well as funding from the French space agency CNES, from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 870377 (project NEO-MAPP) and from the CNRS through the MITI interdisciplinary programs.