RADUCAN , Sabina

The Hayabusa2 mission impact experiment on asteroid Ryugu created an unexpectedly large crater. The associated regime of low-gravity, low-strength cratering remained largely unexplored so far, because these impact conditions cannot be re-created in laboratory experiments on Earth. Here we show that the target cohesion may be very low and the...

International audience

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is the first planetary defense mission to demonstrate the kinetic deflection technique. The DART spacecraft will collide with the asteroid Dimorphos, the smaller component of the binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos. The DART impact will excavate surface/subsurface materials of Dimorphos, leading to...

In 2022 September, the DART spacecraft (NASA's contribution to the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) collaboration) will impact the asteroid Dimorphos, the secondary in the Didymos system. The crater formation and material ejection will affect the orbital period. In 2027, Hera (ESA's contribution to AIDA) will investigate the...

International audience