AIDA (mission)
The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission is a proposed pair of space probes which will study and demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon. The mission is intended to test and validate impact models of whether a spacecraft could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
The original plan called for a European spacecraft, the Asteroid Impact Mission , to operate in synergy with a large NASA impactor called Double Asteroid Redirection Test and observe the immediate effects of the impact. AIM was cancelled in 2016 when Germany was unable to fund its portion, and after some backlash within ESA, AIM was replaced in 2018 with a smaller spacecraft called Hera that will launch five years after DART to orbit and study the crater on the asteroid.
DART is currently planned to impact in 2022 in the small moon of asteroid 65803 Didymos, while Hera will arrive at Didymos in 2027, five years after DART impact.
History
Initially, Hera role was to be realized by a much larger spacecraft called Asteroid Impact Mission, that would have observed the plume, the crater, and the freshly exposed material to provide unique information for asteroid deflection, science and mining communities. In December 2016, the European Space Agency cancelled the development of the AIM spacecraft after Germany decided to fund the ExoMars project only. Germany offered to cover only 35 million of the 60 million needed for the AIM portion to continue, and this was not enough to continue development. Had AIM been developed, its notional requirements in 2012 were:- an asteroid lander for in-situ measurements
- a thermal infrared imager to discriminate different surface properties like rocks or granular surfaces
- a monostatic high frequency radar to obtain information on the structure of the asteroid's surface
- a bistatic low frequency radar to allow a view inside the asteroid and obtain data on its inner structure
- two interplanetary CubeSats
- deep-space optical communication.
Nevertheless, NASA has continued development of the DART mission to 65803 Didymos, and plans to measure the effects of the impact from ground-based telescopes, and from an Italian CubeSat DART will bring along. Following AIM cancellation, ESA director Jan Wörner stated his intentions to revive the European mission in some form. Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg's deputy prime minister, expressed regret at AIM cancellation, and commented that his country would continue to advocate for the realization of the mission.
Status
By March 2018, Hera proposal was in Phase B1, where the preliminary design was being drawn up. On 7 January 2019, the Hera team announced the selection of two CubeSats to piggyback on the mission: APEX and Juventas. ESA officials approved Hera in November 2019 for a 2024 launch.The Italian Space Agency decided in 2018 to contribute to NASA a secondary spacecraft called LICIA, a 6-unit CubeSat that will piggyback with DART and will separate shortly before impact to acquire images of the ejecta as it drifts past the asteroid.
Collaboration
The AIDA mission is a joint international collaboration of the European Space Agency, the German Aerospace Center, Côte d'Azur Observatory, NASA, and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.The miniature lidar instrument on board Hera will be provided by a consortium of teams from Portugal, Poland, and Ireland. Two CubeSats will be deployed by Hera while at Didymos: The APEX CubeSat is being developed by Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and Germany. The Juventas CubeSat is being developed by GomSpace and GMV's Romanian division.
Along with surveying DART impact crater, Hera may also carry a Japanese impactor that would be a replica of the Small Carry-on Impactor, on board the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission. NASA's DART will bring along a 6U CubeSat called LICIA which is being developed by the Italian Space Agency to image the ejecta plume.
''Hera''
Hera is the European component of the ESA–NASA AIDA mission. The Hera spacecraft, approved on 29 November 2019, will focus on key measurements to validate impact and asteroid deflection models such as the detailed characterisation of the impact crater made by the DART impactor. Hera will also measure the DART impact outcome, such as change in the binary system orbit, and will enable detailed characterisation of the Dimorphos volume and surface properties, as well as measure the volume and morphology of the DART impact crater.The baseline payload of Hera is still in flux, and it includes a camera, a miniaturized lidar and two 6U CubeSats dedicated to asteroid characterisation. The spacecraft design allows for of additional payload mass, including the Small Carry-on Impactor proposed by Japan's space agency JAXA. Other options, such as a small lander, are being considered. Hera will be launched on an Ariane 6 in 2024.
Proposed payload
The notional payloads on Hera are:- Asteroid Framing Camera to obtain information on the dynamics of a binary asteroid and physical characteristics.
- Lidar laser altimeter to measure the shapes of the two bodies and constrain the mass of the asteroid's moon.
- Thermal imager
- APEX is a 6-unit CubeSat for spectral imaging and magnetic observations. It will attempt to land on the asteroid surface for close-up data.
- Juventas is a 6-unit CubeSat carrying a camera and a low-frequency radar for determining the internal structure of Dimorphos. It will operate for 3–6 months near the asteroid. At the end of its mission, it will attempt a landing on the surface of Dimorphos to obtain close-up data.
- An optional impactor may also be carried by Hera. It would be a replica of the Japan's Small Carry-on Impactor on board the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission. By performing a secondary impact, a comparison of the effects posed by two collisions of different nature on the same asteroid can be realized, helping validate numerical impact algorithms and scaling laws.
DART
Mission design
AIDA will target 65803 Didymos, a binary asteroid system in which one asteroid is orbited by a smaller one. The primary asteroid is about in diameter; its small satellite is about in diameter in an orbit about 1.1 km from the primary. Didymos is not an Earth-crossing asteroid, and there is no possibility that the deflection experiment could create an impact hazard to Earth.The impact of the DART spacecraft at 6.25 km/s will produce a velocity change on the order of 0.4 mm/s, which leads to a significant change in the mutual orbit of these two objects, but only a minimal change in the heliocentric orbit of the system. AIDA will provide a great benefit obtaining the size of the resulting impact crater in addition to the momentum transfer measurement, as the effects of porosity and strength of the target are needed to calculate the momentum transfer efficiency.
DART is currently planned to impact in 2022 on the small moon of asteroid Didymos, while Hera will arrive at Didymos in 2027, five years after DART impact, so in order to maximize scientific outcome, the AIDA team proposes to delay DART launch so that Hera would arrive at the asteroid first, enabling it to study DART impact, the plume, the crater, and the freshly exposed material. While most of the initial objectives of AIDA would still be met if Hera arrives after DART, as a drawback data from direct observation of the impact and ejecta will not be obtained.
| Host spacecraft | Secondary spacecraft | Remarks |
| DART | LICIA |
|
| Hera | Juventas | |
| Hera | APEX | |
| Hera | SCI |