NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission is the first ever space mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by a kinetic impactor. On 26 September 2022, DART is planned to intercept Dimorphos (Didymos B, nicknamed "DidyMoon"), the secondary member of the (65803) Didymos system, a binary Near-Earth Asteroid system with characteristics of great interest to NASA's overall planetary defense efforts.
DART?s Mission Objectives are:
- Demonstrate a kinetic impact with Dimorphos.
- Change the binary orbital period of Dimorphos.
- Use ground-based telescope observations to measure Dimorphos? period change before and after impact.
- Measure the effects of the impact and resulting ejecta on Dimorphos.
The DART spacecraft is a simple design - a kinetic impactor with a single instrument, DRACO (Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for OpNav), which will observe the asteroid upon approach. DART will navigate to crash itself into Dimorphos at a speed of approximately 6 km/s, aided by the DRACO camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. Two ROSA-type solar arrays provide electrical power to the spacecraft.
The DART payload, Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Op-nav (DRACO), is a high-resolution imager derived from the New Horizons LORRI camera to support navigation and targeting and to determine impact site and geologic context. The spacecraft is a single-string design with thruster-only control weighing about 500 kg. The DART impact is directed at Dimorphos with a relative velocity of about 6 km/s.
As a technology demonstration mission, DART also incorporates key technologies to demonstrate these new technologies and maturing it for future missions.
- Precise, autonomous navigation is required for DART's kinetic impact to be successful. JHUAPL has developed a Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real-Time Navigation (SMART Nav) algorithm for DART; it is comprised of image processing and Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) algorithms that are a part of a navigation simulation. When DART impacts Dimorphos, navigation is handed over to the on-board SMART Nav system. In addition to the navigation, the SMART Nav fuel management logic can determine the appropriate times for course corrections to optimize the efficient use of a limited propellant supply.
- DART is flying Deployable Space Systems Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) for the first time in deep space, featuring powerful APL-developed Transformational Solar Array concentrators. The arrays power NASA?s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster ? Commercial (NEXT?C) ion engine
- NASA?s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster ? Commercial (NEXT?C) ion engine, an electric propulsion system developed by Glenn Research Center in collaboration with Aerojet Rocketdyne.
DART carried the Italian LICIACube cubesat, which was deployed 10 days before impact to monitor the effects of DARTs impact.
DART was launched in November 2021 from Vandenberg on a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) rocket.
The European Hera mission will visit the Didymos system in 2026 to evaluate the effects of the DART mission.
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