DART's Planetary Defense Investigation and Achieving the Mission's Level 1 Requirements: Current Status and Ongoing Activities

DART, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is NASA's first planetary defense test mission, intentionally executing a kinetic impact into an asteroid to slightly change its motion in space. The target of the DART mission is Dimorphos, the secondary member of the Didymos binary asteroid system, which is not a threat to the Earth but rather provides an ideal target for this first test. The DART spacecraft will impact Dimorphos, and the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube), led by the Italian Space Agency, will capture images of the impact event. DART's planetary defense investigation is focused on achieving the mission's Level 1 requirements: (1) impact Dimorphos in September 2022, (2) cause at least a 73 second change in its binary orbit period, (3) measure the change in the binary orbit period, and (4) determine the momentum transfer efficiency (Beta) and characterize the impact site and the resulting effects of the impact. To accomplish the mission's Level 1 requirements, the DART Investigation Team has been undertaking a range of activities, aligned with five Working Groups:

Proximity Imaging Working Group – tasked with using images acquired by the DART spacecraft and LICIACube to determine the asteroid's shape, to constrain the impact location, and to characterize the impact site geology and properties.

Observations Working Group – tasked with using telescopic observations to determine the Didymos system properties prior to impact and to measure the resulting change in the orbital period and constrain the ejecta resulting from the DART impact.

Ejecta Working Group – tasked with modeling the evolution of ejecta as seen in LICIACube and telescopic images.

Impact Working Group – tasked with modeling the DART impact, including the resulting crater and ejecta and the momentum transfer efficiency parameter Beta.

Dynamics Working Group – tasked with modeling the dynamics of the Didymos system and investigating the dynamical effects of the DART impact.

DART launched on November 24, 2021, and is planned to impact Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. This presentation will provide the latest status of the DART Investigation Team's progress toward achieving the mission's Level 1 requirements and discuss the ongoing activities of the team, who will continue their investigations through September 2023.