AIDA (international space cooperation)

Initially, Hera role was to be realized by a much larger spacecraft called Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), 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. Germany offered to cover only 35 million of the 60 million needed for the AIM portion to continue, Had AIM been developed, its notional requirements in 2012 were: • 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. 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, Status By March 2018, Hera proposal was in Phase B1, where the preliminary design was being drawn up. On 7 January 2019, the Hera team announced the selection of two CubeSats to piggyback on the mission: APEX and Juventas. ESA officials approved Hera in November 2019 for a 2024 launch. distinguished professor and leading asteroid scientist. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) decided in 2018 to contribute to NASA a secondary spacecraft called LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids), a 6-unit CubeSat that piggybacked with DART and separated 15 days before impact on 11 September 2022 to acquire images of the ejecta as it drifts past the asteroid. LICIACube is equipped with two optical science cameras, dubbed LUKE and LEIA. == Collaboration ==

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). Two CubeSats will be deployed by Hera while at Didymos: The Milani CubeSat is being developed by Italy, Czech Republic, and Finland. The Juventas CubeSat is being developed by GomSpace and GMV's Romanian division. Along with surveying DART 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. NASA's DART brought a 6U flyby CubeSat along with it, called LICIACube, which was developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to image the ejecta plume. == DART and LICIACube==

. DART or Double Asteroid Redirection Test was a impactor that hosted a single camera, Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO), derived from LORRI camera aboard New Horizons, to support autonomous guiding to impact the center of the moon of Didymos B. It also carried an Italian-built cubesat called LICIACube that was released pre-impact on 11 September 2022 to image the event. It is estimated that the impact of the DART at will produce a velocity change on the order of 0.4 mm/s, which leads to a small change in the orbit of Didymos B, but over time, a large change in the orbital position (or orbital phase). DART impacted Dimorphos on 26 September 2022. File:DART AnimatedSequence-2020 from launch to impact along with separation of LICIACube.webm|DART Mission animated video from launch to impact along with separation of LICIACube File:51619406234 b05ef2464f o Dart Spacecraft Launch Configuration.jpg|DART in launch configuration File:LICIACube CubeSat a companion satellite of Dart Spacecraft.jpg|LICIACube, a companion satellite of the DART probe ==Hera==

Hera is the European component of the ESA–NASA AIDA mission. The Hera spacecraft, approved on 29 November 2019, 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. Hera will also measure the DART impact outcome, such as change in the binary system orbit, The baseline payload of Hera includes a camera, a miniaturized lidar and two CubeSats dedicated to asteroid characterisation. The spacecraft design allows for 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. Proposed payload The notional payloads on Hera are: • Juventas is a 6-unit CubeSat carrying a camera and a low-frequency radar (JuRa), for determining the internal structure of Dimorphos. It will operate for 3–6 months near the asteroid. At the end of its mission, it will attempt a landing on the surface of Dimorphos to obtain close-up data. == Mission design ==

AIDA will target 65803 Didymos, a binary asteroid system in which one asteroid is orbited by a smaller one. The primary asteroid is about in diameter; its small satellite is about in diameter in an orbit about 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. The impact of the DART spacecraft at 6.25 km/s was designed to produce a velocity change on the order of 0.4 mm/s, which would lead to a significant change in the mutual orbit of these two objects, but only a minimal change in the heliocentric orbit of the system. Additionally, observations from the Lowell Observatory and their collaborators measured a -2.63 ± 0.6 mm s-1 reduction in Dimorphos's track velocity. Measurements from the Lowell Observatory collaboration also noted that the shape of Dimorphos changed significantly from an oblate spheroid to an elongated ellipsoid. AIDA mission architecture == See also ==