DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test Status NASA’s mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor
Goddard Space Flight Center Elena Adams Johnson Space Center Langley Research Center Mission Systems Engineer Glenn Research Center Marshall Space Flight Center January 30, 2019 Planetary Defense Coordination Office
DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test 1 NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO): established 2016
DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test 2 Launch June 2021
March 2022 IMPACT: October 2022 Recent and Upcoming 2001 CB21 flyby Mission Milestones: S-type, 578 meters, • KDP-C (Confirmation): 3.3-hour rotation rate 17 Aug, 2018 • Critical Design Review LICIA Cube (CDR) 27 June, 2019 (Light Italian Cubesat • KDP-D (System for Imaging of Asteroids) Integration):16 Mar ASI contribution 2020
DART Spacecraft 65803 Didymos 540 kg arrival mass Didymos-B (1996 GT) Didymos-A 12.5 m × 2.4 m × 2.0 m 163 meters 1,180-meter separation 780 meters, S-type 6 km/s closing speed 11.92-hour orbital period between centers of A and B 2.26-hour rotation period
Earth-Based Observations • Target the binary asteroid Didymos system 0.07 AU range at impact Predicted ~8-minute change • Impact Didymos-B and change its orbital period in binary orbit period • Measure the period change from Earth
DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test 3 DART: Key Technologies DART will demonstrate key technologies for future NASA missions.
Roll Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) Powered flight, demonstrated on ISS previously
Coresat Avionics Integrated system-on-a-chip FPGA processing
Transformational Solar Arrays Concentrators, providing 5x times power Autonomous SmartNav system NEXT-C Ion Propulsion Engine of current state-of-the-art solar arrays, great at Jovian distances SmartNav autonomously directs DART will be the first flight of NASA’s DART to impact Didymos-B, Evolutionary Xenon Thruster- leveraging missile guidance Commercial (NEXT-C) ion propulsion Radial Line Slot Array algorithms developed at APL. engine. Planar low cost high efficiency high gain Uses Narrow Angle Camera antenna (DRACO) for detection.
DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test 4 DART Status Getting ready to Rock.
• Mission is moving towards its Critical Design Review in June! • Baseline changes - Class C mission - DART is no longer a rideshare and will have its own launch vehicle Flight Heatpipes Ready - Added a CubeSat (see following slide) and transformational solar array demonstration • LSP is in process of acquiring a launch vehicle for DART - Selection to be finalized in early February, but with PPU Interface Box Testing government shutdown that has been delayed • Additional Didymos observations planned • NEXT-C project started flight production of the NEXT-C thruster and electronics
NEXT-C simulators Harness Mockup
DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test 30 January 2019 5 Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids LICIACube
LICIACube Description • A very capable 6U CubeSat provided by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana Goals (ASI) 1- Impact Obtain multiple (at least three) - CubeSat contractor: Argotec ejecta plume images of DART impact ejecta • Based on Argomoon CubeSat that will be flying on EM-1 mission evolution plume over a span of times and phase angles, to allow estimation (first flight of SLS in 2020) of plume density structure • In process of solidifying payload, but Narrow Angle Camera at the 2- Impact Obtain multiple (> 3) images of least (goal of 1 m/ pixel resolution imagery) crater DART impact site having sufficient resolution to allow measurements of impact crater size and Current conops includes flyby of morphology Didymos ~ 5 min after DART 3 - Non- Obtain multiple (at least three) impact and downlinking data after impact images of the non-impact event hemisphere hemisphere of Didymos B 4 - Color/ Obtain images of the ejecta plume Preliminary Design Review (PDR) spectral and of asteroid target to in March 2019 imaging characterize color and spectral plume & variations Didymos
DART – Double Asteroid Redirection Test 30 January 2019 6 Path To Terminal Guidance 2022 Intercept (~10.9M km; 6.8M miles from Earth)* Autonomous Navigation and Targeting
1. Launch 2. Cruise / Calibration 3. Target Detection 4. Deploy 6U CubeSat / Coarse Acquisition 6U CubeSat releases and executes a separation maneuver to trail DART <~2 days until impact>
Flyby of PHA allows sensor calibration and control-gain tuning Weeks prior to impact, High Energy Escape <7 months until impact> DART s/c detects primary
5. Scene Classification 6. Target Selection 7. Homing Until Intercept 8. Impact Assessment Itokawa at 0.5 m/pix
DRACO achieves the 50 cm/pixel target resolution requirement at 17 s before impact
DART S/C counts and classifies With sufficient confidence, DART closely spaced objects S/C selects target and locks on <3 hours until impact> <1.5 hours until impact> SMART Nav executes precision maneuvers Earth tracking & 6U CubeSat <32,000 km from target> <65,000 km from target> and is robust to target uncertainties images quantify intercept success