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View article: High-speed Boulders and the Debris Field in DART Ejecta
High-speed Boulders and the Debris Field in DART Ejecta Open
On 2022 September 26 the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft collided with Dimorphos, the moon of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, in a full-scale demonstration of a kinetic impactor concept. The companion Light Italia…
View article: HERMES Pathfinder & SpIRIT: a progress report
HERMES Pathfinder & SpIRIT: a progress report Open
HERMES Pathfinder is an in-orbit demonstration consisting of a constellation of six 3U cubesats hosting simple but innovative X-ray/gamma-ray detectors for the monitoring of cosmic high-energy transients. HERMES-PF, funded by ASI and by th…
View article: Elliptical ejecta of asteroid Dimorphos is due to its surface curvature
Elliptical ejecta of asteroid Dimorphos is due to its surface curvature Open
Kinetic deflection is a planetary defense technique delivering spacecraft momentum to a small body to deviate its course from Earth. The deflection efficiency depends on the impactor and target. Among them, the contribution of global curva…
View article: Author Correction: The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos
Author Correction: The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos Open
Barnouin, Olivier S. et al.-- Full list of authors: Barnouin, Olivier; Ballouz, Ronald-Louis; Marchi, Simone; Vincent, Jean-Baptiste; Agrusa, Harrison; Zhang, Yun; Ernst, Carolyn M.; Pajola, Maurizio; Tusberti, Filippo; Lucchetti, Alice; D…
View article: The ground calibration of the HERMES-Pathfinder payload flight models
The ground calibration of the HERMES-Pathfinder payload flight models Open
HERMES-Pathfinder is a space-borne mission based on a constellation of six nano-satellites flying in a low-Earth orbit. The 3U CubeSats, to be launched in early 2025, host miniaturized instruments with a hybrid Silicon Drift Detector/scint…
View article: Near-infrared Spectral Homogeneity of the Didymos System Before and After the DART Impact*
Near-infrared Spectral Homogeneity of the Didymos System Before and After the DART Impact* Open
We spectroscopically characterized the Didymos system, target of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)/Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) space mission, close in time to the DART impact event, during six night…
View article: The HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) Pathfinder mission
The HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) Pathfinder mission Open
HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) Pathfinder is a\nspace-borne mission based on a constellation of six nano-satellites flying in a\nlow-Earth orbit (LEO). The 3U CubeSats, to be launched in early 2025, host\nminiatu…
View article: The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos
The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos Open
Images collected during NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission provide the first resolved views of the Didymos binary asteroid system. These images reveal that the primary asteroid, Didymos, is flattened and has plausible u…
View article: Dust Clumps Dynamics of the Dimorphos Ejecta Plume
Dust Clumps Dynamics of the Dimorphos Ejecta Plume Open
Introduction:   The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impact [1], was the first space mission that successfully demonstrated the kinetic impactor technique for planetary defense. It was at the same instant, on 26th Sep…
View article: Design and development of the HERMES Pathfinder payloads
Design and development of the HERMES Pathfinder payloads Open
HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) Pathfinder mission aims to observe and localize Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) and other transients using a constellation of nanosatellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO). Scheduled for launch i…
View article: HERMES: Gamma-ray burst and gravitational wave counterpart hunter
HERMES: Gamma-ray burst and gravitational wave counterpart hunter Open
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) bridge relativistic astrophysics and multimessenger astronomy. Space–based γ - and X-ray wide-field detectors have proven essential for detecting and localizing the highly variable GRB prompt emission, which is also…
View article: HERMES: Gamma Ray Burst and Gravitational Wave counterpart hunter
HERMES: Gamma Ray Burst and Gravitational Wave counterpart hunter Open
Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) bridge relativistic astrophysics and multi-messenger astronomy. Space-based gamma/X-ray wide field detectors have proven essential to detect and localize the highly variable GRB prompt emission, which is also a coun…
View article: The ground calibration of the HERMES-Pathfinder payload flight models
The ground calibration of the HERMES-Pathfinder payload flight models Open
HERMES-Pathfinder is a space-borne mission based on a constellation of six nano-satellites flying in a low-Earth orbit. The 3U CubeSats, to be launched in early 2025, host miniaturized instruments with a hybrid Silicon Drift Detector/scint…
View article: DART Impact Ejecta Plume Evolution: Implications for Dimorphos
DART Impact Ejecta Plume Evolution: Implications for Dimorphos Open
The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacted the moon Dimorphos of the [65803] Didymos binary system and changed the binary orbit period, demonstrating asteroid deflection by a kinetic impact and indicating that mor…
View article: VADER: Probing the Dark Side of Dimorphos with LICIACube LUKE
VADER: Probing the Dark Side of Dimorphos with LICIACube LUKE Open
The ASI cubesat LICIACube has been part of the first planetary defense mission DART, having among its scopes to complement the DRACO images to better constrain the Dimorphos shape. LICIACube had two different cameras, LEIA and LUKE, and to…
View article: The Unusual Brightness Phase Curve of (65803) Didymos
The Unusual Brightness Phase Curve of (65803) Didymos Open
On 2022 September 26, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully hit Dimorphos, the smaller companion of the binary system formed with the asteroid (65803) Didymos. Both the binary system and the impact event were imaged b…
View article: Kinetic deflection change due to target global curvature as revealed by NASA/DART
Kinetic deflection change due to target global curvature as revealed by NASA/DART Open
Kinetic deflection is a planetary defense technique that delivers spacecraft momentum to a small body to deviate its course from Earth. The deflection efficiency depends strongly on the impactor and target. Among them, the contribution of …
View article: Characterization of the DART Impact Ejecta Plume on Dimorphos from LICIACube Observations
Characterization of the DART Impact Ejecta Plume on Dimorphos from LICIACube Observations Open
We modeled the geometry and the three-dimensional orientation of the ejecta cone triggered by the impact of the DART spacecraft on the asteroid Dimorphos. We used eight LUKE images of the impact acquired by the CubeSat LICIACube that flew …
View article: The geology and evolution of a the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos.
The geology and evolution of a the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos. Open
Images collected by the DART and LICIAcube spacecraft provide the first resolved views of the Didymos binary asteroid system. These images reveal that the primary asteroid, Didymos, is flattened and has a non-circular equatorial perimeter.…
View article: Characterization and Testing of the Passive Magnetic Attitude Control System for the 3U AstroBio CubeSat
Characterization and Testing of the Passive Magnetic Attitude Control System for the 3U AstroBio CubeSat Open
AstroBio CubeSat is a mission funded by the Italian Space Agency aimed at validating novel lab-on-chip technology, that would enable the use of micro- and nanosatellites as autonomous orbiting laboratories for research in astrobiology. Thi…
View article: Design and Analysis of the Cis-Lunar Navigation for the ArgoMoon CubeSat Mission
Design and Analysis of the Cis-Lunar Navigation for the ArgoMoon CubeSat Mission Open
In the framework of the Artemis-1 mission, 10 CubeSats will be released, including the 6U CubeSat ArgoMoon, built by the Italian company Argotec and coordinated by the Italian Space Agency. The primary goal of ArgoMoon is to capture images…
View article: Expected investigation of the (65803) Didymos-Dimorphos system using the RGB spectrophotometry dataset from LICIACube Unit Key Explorer (LUKE) wide-angle camera 
Expected investigation of the (65803) Didymos-Dimorphos system using the RGB spectrophotometry dataset from LICIACube Unit Key Explorer (LUKE) wide-angle camera  Open
<p><strong>Instrument overview</strong></p><p>The Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) [1] is part of the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) [2], the first mission aiming to dem…
View article: Anticipated Geological Assessment of the (65803) Didymos–Dimorphos System, Target of the DART–LICIACube Mission
Anticipated Geological Assessment of the (65803) Didymos–Dimorphos System, Target of the DART–LICIACube Mission Open
On 2022 September 26, the DART spacecraft will impact the surface of Dimorphos, the ∼160 m size satellite of the binary near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (65803) Didymos. What will be observed on the surfaces of both asteroids and at the DART impa…
View article: Spectral Rotational Characterization of the Didymos System prior to the DART Impact*
Spectral Rotational Characterization of the Didymos System prior to the DART Impact* Open
The smallest member of the Didymos binary near-Earth object system (Dimorphos) is the target of the DART/LICIACube mission, the first attempt to change the orbit of another celestial body via a kinetic impactor. It is important to characte…