[meteorite-list] ESA's AIDA Mission Now Has A Target: Asteroid Didymos

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.esa.int/About_Us/GSP/Asteroid_impact_mission_targets_Didymos

ESA's AIDA mission now has a target: asteroid Didymos
European Space Agency
22 February 2013

ESA's proposed Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission now has a target: 
asteroid Didymos. The recent Russian meteor and, on the same day, our planet's 
close encounter with an even larger chunk of celestial debris underline the need 
for us to learn more about these high-speed space rocks.

For the last two years, ESA has been working with international partners on the 
mission concept, dubbed AIDA. Last week, research centres each side of the Atlantic 
agreed the spacecraft would target asteroid Didymos.

Currently under study, the mission would intercept Didymos around the time of the 
asteroid's closest approach to within 11 million km of Earth in 2022.

Didymos is a "binary", with two asteroids orbiting each other - one is roughly 
800 m across, the other about 150 m.

AIDA is a low-budget international effort that would send two small craft to 
intercept a double target. While one probe smashes into the smaller asteroid at 
around 6.25 km/s, the other records what happens.

One effect would be a change in the orbital ballet of the two objects. AIDA is not 
intended to show how we could deflect an asteroid that threatens Earth but it would 
be a first step.  Didymos with its moon

The craft are conceived to be independent and could achieve most of their goals 
alone. The collider is the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, from the 
Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory in the US. ESA's Asteroid Impact 
Monitor, or AIM, would survey Didymos in detail, before and after the collision.

Didymos poses no risk to our planet, but will come close enough to be observable by 
1-2 m-diameter telescopes on Earth before and after the strike. AIM's close-up view 
would provide "ground truth" and observe the impact dynamics as well as the 
resulting crater, allowing ground-based observations and models to be evaluated.

Earlier this month, ESA issued a call for scientists to propose experiments that 
could be carried on the mission or performed on the ground to increase 
its return.

"AIDA is not just an asteroid mission, it is also meant as a research platform open 
to all different mission users," says Andres Galvez, ESA studies manager.

"The project has value in many areas," agrees Andy Cheng, AIDA lead at Johns Hopkins' 
Applied Physics Laboratory, "from applied science and exploration to asteroid 
resource utilisation."

Researchers have until 15 March to express their interest. The experiment ideas can 
be anything that deals with hypervelocity impacts, planetary science, 
planetary defence, human exploration or innovation in spacecraft operations.

The energy released in the AIDA impact at several kilometres per second is 
similar to that of a large piece of space junk hitting a satellite. The 
mission would thus help to model severe spacecraft damage by space debris.


Asteroid Impact Monitor design

"It is an exciting opportunity to do world-leading research of all kinds on a problem 
that is out of this world," says Stephan Ulamec from the DLR German Aerospace Center. 
"And it helps us learn how to work together in international missions tackling the 
asteroid impact hazard."

"A mission such as this allows us to test technologies before any asteroid is 
identified as a threat," explains Patrick Michel, leader of the Planetology team at 
the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur (OCA, Lagrange Laboratory) and a member of the 
Working Group on Near-Earth Objects of the International Astronomical Union.

"Understanding the physics of impacts is also key to planetary science and binary 
asteroid dynamics."

For further information, please contact:

Andres Galvez
ESA 
General Studies Programme manager
Future Preparation and Strategic Studies Office
ESA Headquarters, Paris, France
Email: Andres.Galvez[@]esa.int

AIDA is a project with a strong international component. Together with the 
20-nation ESA and the US JHU/APL, experts from the French OCA, the DLR 
German Aerospace Center and several NASA centres (Johnson Space Center, 
Langley Research Centre and Goddard Space Flight Center) are participating 
in the mission definition. A dedicated workshop on this and related projects 
will be held as part of the Planetary Defence Conference in Flagstaff, 
Arizona, USA on 19 April, where the results of the call for experiment 
ideas will be presented.

The two components of the AIDA mission are funded throughout their study phases. 
DART is supported by a NASA contract, while AIM mission studies are paid for by 
ESA's General Studies Programme.