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File:DART-Encapsulation-in-Payload-Fairing-for-launch.jpg|Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing being attached NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on Nov. 16, 2021.
File:DART-Encapsulation-in-Payload-Fairing-for-launch.jpg|Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing being attached NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on Nov. 16, 2021.
File:FE1GARXXIAIsdeo.jpg|DART Attached to Falcon 9
File:FE1GARXXIAIsdeo.jpg|DART Attached to Falcon 9
File:DART Prelaunch (NHQ202111220002).jpg|DART spacecraft are being readied for launch, Monday, Nov. 22
File:DART Prelaunch (NHQ202111220003).jpg|Falcon 9 rocket and DART spacecraft are being readied for launch
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Revision as of 14:04, 23 November 2021

LICIACube
Infographic showing the effect of DART's impact on the orbit of Didymos B while deployment of Italian LICIACube
NamesLight Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids
Mission typeasteroidal exploration and study; planetary defense
OperatorASI
COSPAR ID2021-110C Edit this at Wikidata
Websitewww.asi.it/en/planets-stars-universe/solar-system-and-beyond/liciacube/
Mission duration~6 to 7 months (planned)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftLICIACube
Spacecraft typeCubeSat
Bus6U CubeSat
ManufacturerArgotec
Launch mass14 kg (31 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date24 November 2021, 06:20 UTC (planned)[1]
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5, B1063.3[2]
Launch siteVandenberg, SLC-4E
ContractorSpaceX
Deployed fromDouble Asteroid Redirection Test
Flyby of Didymos system
Closest approach2 October 2022 (planned)
Distance55 km (34 mi)
 

Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) is a 6-unit Cubesat made by Italian Space Agency (ASI). LICIACube is a part of Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission and is built to carry out observational analysis of the Didymos asteroid binary system after DART's impact. It will communicate directly with Earth, sending back images of the ejecta and plume of DART's impact as well as do asteroidal study during its flyby of the Didymos system, 3 days after the Dart's impact.[3]

LICIACube CubeSat a companion satellite of Dart Spacecraft

LICIACube will be the first purely Italian autonomous spacecraft in deep space, also for the Ground Segment, with data archiving and processing managed by the Space Science Data Center (SSDC) of ASI.

History

LICIACube will be the first deep space mission developed and autonomously managed by an Italian team: the design, integration and test of the CubeSat have been assigned by ASI to the aerospace company Argotec, while the LICIACube Ground Segment has a complex architecture based on the Argotec Mission Control Center, antennas of the NASA Deep Space Network and data archiving and processing, managed at the ASI Space Science Data Center. The scientific team making this cubesat is led by National Institute of Astrophysics INAF (OAR, IAPS, OAA, OAPd, OATs) with the support of IFAC-CNR and University Parthenope of Naples. The team is enriched by University of Bologna, for orbit determination and satellite navigation, and Polytechnic of Milan, for mission analysis and optimization. The LICIACube team includes a wide Italian scientific community, involved in the definition of all the aspects of the mission: trajectory design; mission definition (and real-time orbit determination during operations); impact, plume and imaging simulation and modelling, in preparation of a suitable framework for the analysis and interpretation of in-situ data. The major technological mission challenge, i.e. the autonomous targeting and imaging of such a small body during a fast fly-by, to be accomplished with the limited resources of a CubeSat, is affordable thanks to a strong synergy of all the mentioned teams in support of the engineering tasks.

Sattellite design

In order to deal with the mission, the Argotec platform will use an autonomous navigation system, two light solar arrays, an integrated propulsion system, two cameras, X-band communication system and an advanced on-board computer.

Scientific Payload

LICIACube is equipped with two optical cameras for conducting asteroidal reconnaissance during flyby, dubbed LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer), a narrow FoV camera and LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid), a wide FoV imager with an RGB Bayer pattern infrared filter. These will capture scientific data telling about the composition of the asteroid and inform it's autonomous system by finding and tracking the asteroid throughout the encounter. Due to it being released in a phase when dart will gear up for its intentional impact, it plans to take a image every 6 seconds during the Dart's impact period with preliminary targets of flyby being to take 3 high resolution images telling about the asteroid's morphology and rest being concentrating on the physics of the asteroid and plume generations after impact. This may help in characterising the consequences of the impact.

Mission profile

Launch

LICIACube was manufactured in Italy and sent to Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in September, 2021. There on September 8, 2021, the LICIACube was integrated on Dart Spacecraft for launch on 24 November, 2021, inside a spring-loaded box placed on the wall of Dart spacecraft.

Cruise Phase and Flyby

After the launch the CubeSat will remain enclosed within a spring-loaded box and thus will be piggybacked with Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), almost the entire duration of Dart's mission. It will separate shortly by kicking out of a that box situated on (DART) spacecraft at roughly 2.5 miles per hour, 10 days before impact to acquire images of the impact and ejecta as it drifts past the asteroid, 3 days after the impact.[4][5][6][7]

Mission after flyby

After the flyby, it spend a few weeks time in sending the data to the ground team and may die off or look for another potential asteroid visit depends ding on it's health and remaining propellant stored in it after the flyby.

Goals

It is built with the aim of achieving:

  •  documenting the DART impact’s effects on the secondary member of the (65803) Didymos binary asteroid system, 
  •  characterizing the shape of the target, and 
  •  performing dedicated scientific investigations on it.

Gallery

  • DART Mission Animated video from launch to impact along with separation of LICIACube
  • LICIACube CubeSat integrated on Dart Spacecraft
    LICIACube CubeSat integrated on Dart Spacecraft
  • LICIACube CubeSat integrating on Dart Spacecraft
    LICIACube CubeSat integrating on Dart Spacecraft
  • Dart mating to payload adapter
    Dart mating to payload adapter
  • Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing being attached NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on Nov. 16, 2021.
    Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing being attached NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on Nov. 16, 2021.
  • DART Attached to Falcon 9
    DART Attached to Falcon 9
  • DART spacecraft are being readied for launch, Monday, Nov. 22
    DART spacecraft are being readied for launch, Monday, Nov. 22
  • Falcon 9 rocket and DART spacecraft are being readied for launch
    Falcon 9 rocket and DART spacecraft are being readied for launch

See also

References

  1. ^ "DART Launch Moves to Secondary Window". NASA. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ C19-009 (12 April 2019). "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Asteroid Redirect Test Mission". NASA. Retrieved 12 April 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ Cheng, Andy (15 November 2018). "DART Mission Update". ESA. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  4. ^ Asteroids have been hitting the Earth for billions of years. In 2022, we hit back. Archived 2018-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Andy Rivkin, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory September 27, 2018
  5. ^ Kretschmar, Peter; Küppers, Michael (20 December 2018). "The CubeSat Revolution" (PDF). ESA. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  6. ^ Adams, Elena; Oshaughnessy, Daniel; Reinhart, Matthew; John, Jeremy; Congdon, Elizabeth; Gallagher, Daniel; Abel, Elisabeth; Atchison, Justin; Fletcher, Zachary; Chen, Michelle; Heistand, Christopher; Huang, Philip; Smith, Evan; Sibol, Deane; Bekker, Dmitriy; Carrelli, David (2019). "Double Asteroid Redirection Test: The Earth Strikes Back". 2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1109/AERO.2019.8742007. ISBN 978-1-5386-6854-2. S2CID 195222414. In addition, DART is carrying a 6U CubeSat provided by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).The CubeSat will provide imagery documentation of the impact, as well as in situ observation of the impact site and resultant ejecta plume
  7. ^ Fahnestock, E.; Yu, Y.; Cheng, A. F. (2018). "DART Impact Ejecta Simulation and Visualization for Fly-Along CubeSat Operational Planning". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. 2018: P51A–07. Bibcode:2018AGUFM.P51A..07F.
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