DOTTO , Elisabetta

Context: Near-Earth asteroid 162173 (1999 JU3) is the primary target of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa-2 sample return mission, and is also on the list of potential targets for the European Space Agency (ESA) Marco Polo sample return mission. Earth-based studies of this object are fundamental to these missions. Aims:...

NASAʼs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the first full-scale planetary defense mission. The target is the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, in which the smaller component Dimorphos (∼164 m equivalent diameter) orbits the larger component Didymos (∼780 m equivalent diameter). The DART spacecraft will impact Dimorphos, changing...

We analyse here a wide sample of carbonaceous chondrites from historic falls (e.g. Allende, Cold Bokkeveld, Kainsaz, Leoville, Murchison, Murray, Orgueil and Tagish Lake) and from NASA Antarctic collection.With the analysis of these meteorites we want to get new clues on the role of aqueous alteration in promoting the reflectance spectra...

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is the first planetary defense test mission. It will demonstrate the kinetic impactor technique by intentionally colliding the DART spacecraft with the near-Earth asteroid Dimorphos. The main DART spacecraft is accompanied by the Italian Space Agency Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids...

We overview various efforts within the DART Investigation Team's Ejecta Working Group to predict the characteristics, quantity, dynamical behavior, and observability of DART impact ejecta. We discuss various methodologies for simulation of the impact/cratering process with their advantages and drawbacks in relation to initializing ejecta for...

Marco Polo is a mission to return a sample from a near-Earth object of primitive type (class C or D). It is foreseen as a collaborative effort between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Marco Polo is currently in a Phase-A study (status as of summer 2009). This paper focuses on the scientific...