The science return of the ESA Hera mission: the European component of the AIDA project in cooperation with NASA DART
- Paper number
IAC-19,A3,4B,5,x53646
- Author
Dr. Patrick Michel, France, University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur
- Coauthor
Dr. Michael Kueppers, Spain, ESA
- Coauthor
Mr. Ian Carnelli, France, European Space Agency (ESA)
- Coauthor
Mr. Paolo Martino, The Netherlands, ESA - European Space Agency
- Coauthor
Prof. Adriano Campo Bagatin, Spain, University of Alicante
- Coauthor
Dr. Benoît Carry, France, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur
- Coauthor
Prof. Sébastien Charnoz, France, IPGP
- Coauthor
Dr. Julia de Leon, Spain, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
- Coauthor
Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons, United Kingdom, Queen's University
- Coauthor
Dr. Simon Green, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Mr. Alain Herique, France, Universite Grenoble Alpes
- Coauthor
Dr. Martin Jutzi, Switzerland, University of Bern
- Coauthor
Dr. Özgür Karatekin, Belgium, Royal Observatory of Belgium
- Coauthor
Dr. Naomi Murdoch, France, ISAE-Supaero University of Toulouse
- Coauthor
Dr. Petr Pravec, Czech Republic, Astronomical Institute, Czech Academy of sciences
- Coauthor
Dr. Holger Sierks, Germany, Max Planck Institute
- Coauthor
Dr. Colin Snodgrass, United Kingdom, The University of Edinburgh
- Coauthor
Prof. Paolo Tortora, Italy, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna
- Coauthor
Prof.Dr. Kleomenis Tsiganis, Greece
- Coauthor
Dr. Stephan Ulamec, Germany, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
- Coauthor
Dr. Kai Wünnemann, Germany, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
- Year
2019
- Abstract
Each space mission to an asteroid, whether its requirements are driven by planetary defense, science or mining objectives, has a science return that is always extremely high. The reason is that our knowledge of these fascinating objects is still very poor, especially for the smallest ones, and the communities interested in them for very different reasons still need essentially the same knowledge. While Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx currently turn our understanding on its head concerning carbonaceous-type Near-Earth Objects, the Hera mission, currently under study at ESA in the framework of the AIDA project associated to the NASA DART mission to the binary asteroid Didymos, definitely has the potential to do the same. Hera will rendezvous for the first time with a binary asteroid (which corresponds to 15\% of the total population), and in particular its secondary, of 160 m in diameter, which will be the smallest asteroid ever visited. Moreover, for the first time, an internal structure and subsurface properties will be directly measured. How do binary form? What does a 160 m-size rock in space looks like? What are its internal properties? And what will be the size and the morphology of the crater left by DART, which will provide the first impact experiment at full asteroid scale using an impact speed close to the average speed between asteroids? What will be the momentum transferred by DART, which needs the mass of the target to be measured by Hera? These questions and many others will be addressed by Hera as a natural outcome of its investigations focused on planetary defense. Hera thus offers to the European small body community the possibility to maintain its recognized expertise gained with Rosetta and to participate to the asteroid exploration era with other agencies (NASA, JAXA) as expected for a topic (planetary defense) that can only be done in the framework of an international cooperation. We are ready for this, let's do it.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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