On 26 September 2022, at 23:14 UT, the first demonstration test in real (space) scale of the "kinetic impactor" technique to deal with the "asteroid hazard mitigation" issue took place. The NASA DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) [1] spacecraft impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, the smallest member of the binary system (65803) Didymos, and modified its orbital period around the primary member by ~ 30 minutes [2]. Hosted as piggyback on DART during the 10-months travel in space, the small Italian satellite LICIACube [3] was released 15 days before the impact and, few minutes after it, fly-byed the impacted asteroid at 57.8 km from its surface, to take images of the impact effects. The primary instrument LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging of Asteroid) and the color camera LUKE (LICIACube Unite Key Explorer) onboard the cubesat obtained more than 400 images of the two bodies in the binary system and of the huge and spectacular debris plume lifted up from Dimorphos' surface by the impact itself. In particular, LUKE camera, equipped with a RGB Bayer pattern filter to acquire simultaneously color data, allowed a deep analysis (dynamic, structure, colors) of what could be called the "primary plume" (see abstracts by G. Poggiali, A. Rossi).
BOUNCING BOULDERS: A "SECONDARY PLUME" FROM DIDYMOS SURFACE OBSERVED BY LICIACUBE LUKE CAMERA AFTER DART IMPACT ON DIMORPHOS' SURFACE
A Rossi;
2023
Abstract
On 26 September 2022, at 23:14 UT, the first demonstration test in real (space) scale of the "kinetic impactor" technique to deal with the "asteroid hazard mitigation" issue took place. The NASA DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) [1] spacecraft impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, the smallest member of the binary system (65803) Didymos, and modified its orbital period around the primary member by ~ 30 minutes [2]. Hosted as piggyback on DART during the 10-months travel in space, the small Italian satellite LICIACube [3] was released 15 days before the impact and, few minutes after it, fly-byed the impacted asteroid at 57.8 km from its surface, to take images of the impact effects. The primary instrument LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging of Asteroid) and the color camera LUKE (LICIACube Unite Key Explorer) onboard the cubesat obtained more than 400 images of the two bodies in the binary system and of the huge and spectacular debris plume lifted up from Dimorphos' surface by the impact itself. In particular, LUKE camera, equipped with a RGB Bayer pattern filter to acquire simultaneously color data, allowed a deep analysis (dynamic, structure, colors) of what could be called the "primary plume" (see abstracts by G. Poggiali, A. Rossi).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
