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

• Published in: The planetary science journal Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 49 - 72
• Main Authors: Chabot, Nancy L., Rivkin, Andrew S., Cheng, Andrew F., Barnouin, Olivier S., Richardson, Derek C., Stickle, Angela M., Thomas, Cristina A., Ernst, Carolyn M., Terik Daly, R., Chesley, Steven R., Moskovitz, Nicholas A., Abell, Paul, Agrusa, Harrison F., Bannister, Michele T., Beccarelli, Joel, Bekker, Dmitriy L., Bruck Syal, Megan, Buratti, Bonnie J., Busch, Michael W., Campo Bagatin, Adriano, Chocron, Sidney, Collins, Gareth S., Conversi, Luca, Davison, Thomas M., DeCoster, Mallory E., Prasanna Deshapriya, J. D., Eggl, Siegfried, Ferrais, Marin, Ferrari, Fabio, Föhring, Dora, Fuentes-Muñoz, Oscar, Gai, Igor, Giordano, Carmine, Glenar, David A., Green, Simon F., Greenstreet, Sarah, Hasselmann, Pedro H., Herreros, Isabel, Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Ieva, Simone, Ivanovski, Stavro L., Jackson, Samuel L., Jehin, Emmanuel, Jutzi, Martin, Karatekin, Ozgur, Knight, Matthew M., Kolokolova, Ludmilla, Kumamoto, Kathryn M., Küppers, Michael, Lazzarin, Monica, Lolachi, Ramin, Lucas, Michael P., Lucchetti, Alice, Mazzotta Epifani, Elena, McMahon, Jay, Merrill, Colby C., Michel, Patrick, Micheli, Marco, Minker, Kate, Modenini, Dario, Moreno, Fernando, Murdoch, Naomi, Naidu, Shantanu P., Nair, Hari, Nakano, Ryota, Opitom, Cyrielle, Michael Owen, J., Palmer, Eric E., Palumbo, Pasquale, Panicucci, Paolo, Parro, Laura M., Pearl, Jason M., Penttilä, Antti, Perna, Davide, Petrescu, Elisabeta, Pravec, Petr, Raducan, Sabina D., Ramesh, K. T., Ridden-Harper, Ryan, Rizos, Juan L., Rossi, Alessandro, Rożek, Agata, Ryan, Eileen V., Ryan, William H., Sánchez, Paul, Scheirich, Peter, Berk Senel, Cem, Snodgrass, Colin, Soldini, Stefania, Statler, Thomas S., Street, Rachel, Sunshine, Jessica M., Tancredi, Gonzalo, Tinsman, Calley L., Tortora, Paolo, Tusberti, Filippo, Walker, James D., Waller, C. Dany, Wünnemann, Kai, Zannoni, Marco
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Astronomical Society 01.02.2024; IOP Science; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Asteroid; Asteroid dynamics; Asteroid satellites; Asteroid surfaces; Asteroids; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Aérospatiale, astronomie & astrophysique; dynamics; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Impact phenomena; Near-Earth objects; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Planetary science; satellites; Sciences of the Universe; Small Solar System bodies; Solar system astronomy; Space science, astronomy & astrophysics; Small Solar System bodies; Asteroids; Impact phenomena; Asteroid surfaces; Planetary science; Asteroid satellites; Near-Earth objects; Solar system astronomy; Asteroid dynamics
• ISSN: 2632-3338; 2632-3338
• DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ad16e6

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.