AIDA (mission)

Initially, Hera's role was to be realized by a much larger spacecraft called Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM),[6] 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 (ESA) cancelled the development of the AIM spacecraft after Germany decided to fund the ExoMars project only.[7] Germany offered to cover only 35 million of the 60 million needed for the AIM portion to continue,[7] and this was not enough to continue development.[8] Had AIM been developed, its notional requirements in 2012 were:[9][10]

• an asteroid lander (based on the German MASCOT heritage) 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 (on the orbiter and on the lander) to allow a view inside the asteroid and obtain data on its inner structure
• two interplanetary CubeSats[11][12]
• deep-space optical communication.

Under the original proposal, AIM would have launched in October 2020, and DART in July 2021. AIM would have orbited the larger asteroid and studied the composition of it and its moon. DART would then impact the asteroid's moon in October 2022, during a close approach to Earth.[13] AIM would have studied the asteroid's strength, surface physical properties and internal structure, as well as measured the effect on the asteroid moon's orbit around the larger asteroid.

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,[14][15] and from an Italian CubeSat DART will bring along. Following AIM's cancellation, ESA director Jan Wörner stated his intentions to revive the European mission in some form.[14] Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg's deputy prime minister, expressed regret at AIM's cancellation, and commented that his country would continue to advocate for the realization of the mission.[16]

The AIDA mission is a joint international collaboration of the European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Côte d'Azur Observatory (OCA), NASA, and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL).[13]

The miniature lidar instrument on board Hera will be provided by a consortium of teams from Portugal, Poland, and Ireland.[2] Two CubeSats will be deployed by Hera while at Didymos:[22] The APEX (Asteroid Prospection Explorer) CubeSat is being developed by Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and Germany.[23] The Juventas CubeSat is being developed by GomSpace and GMV's Romanian division.[23]

Along with surveying DART's impact crater, Hera may also carry a Japanese impactor that would be a replica of the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI), on board the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission.[6] NASA's DART will bring along a 6U CubeSat called LICIA which is being developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to image the ejecta plume.[18][19][20]

Hera is the European component of the ESA–NASA AIDA mission. The Hera spacecraft, approved on 29 November 2019,[17] 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.[25] Hera will also measure the DART impact outcome, such as change in the binary system orbit,[25] 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.[26]

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 40 kilograms (88 lb) of additional payload mass, including the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) proposed by Japan's space agency JAXA. Other options, such as a small lander, are being considered.[25] Hera will be launched on an Ariane 6[1] in 2024.[17]

DART or Double Asteroid Redirection Test is a 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) impactor that hosts a single camera, Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for OpNav (DRACO) to support autonomous guiding to impact the moon of (Didymos B) through its center.[29] It also carries an Italian-built cubesat called LICIACube that will be released pre-impact to image the event.[30] It is estimated that the impact of the 500 kilograms (1,100 lb)[31] DART at 6 kilometres per second (3.7 mi/s)[15] will produce a velocity change on the order of 0.4 mm/s, which leads to a small change in the orbit of the Didymos B, but over time, it leads to a large change in the orbital position (or orbital phase).[9][13][10]

AIDA will target 65803 Didymos, a binary asteroid system in which one asteroid is orbited by a smaller one. The primary asteroid is about 800 metres (2,600 ft) in diameter; its small satellite is about 150 metres (490 ft) 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.[10]

The impact of the 300 kilograms (660 lb) 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.[9][13][10] 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.[13][10]

Schematic showing the progress of the mission. In the current proposal AIM is replaced with Hera, there is no MASCOT, and the CubeSats are now envisioned to be 6U instead of 3U

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's impact, so in order to maximize scientific outcome, the AIDA team proposes to delay DART's launch so that Hera would arrive at the asteroid first, enabling it to study DART's impact, the plume, the crater, and the freshly exposed material.[6] 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.[6]

• Asteroid impact avoidance
• B612 Foundation
• Don Quijote, AIDA's predecessor proposal
• The Spaceguard Foundation

• ESA Hera page
• Sciency Words: Didymoon
• Video: 5 min presentation of AIDA, at YouTube.