Showing papers by "Stephan Ulamec published in 2022"
DOI•
TL;DR: Hera as discussed by the authors is a planetary defense mission under development in the Space Safety and Security Program of the European Space Agency for launch in 2024 October and rendezvous in late 2026 December with the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos and its moon, Dimorphos, which will be impacted by NASA's DART spacecraft on 2022 September 26 as the first asteroid deflection test.
Abstract: Hera is a planetary defense mission under development in the Space Safety and Security Program of the European Space Agency for launch in 2024 October. It will rendezvous in late 2026 December with the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos and in particular its moon, Dimorphos, which will be impacted by NASA’s DART spacecraft on 2022 September 26 as the first asteroid deflection test. The main goals of Hera are the detailed characterization of the physical properties of Didymos and Dimorphos and of the crater made by the DART mission, as well as measurement of the momentum transfer efficiency resulting from DART’s impact. The data from the Hera spacecraft and its two CubeSats will also provide significant insights into asteroid science and the evolutionary history of our solar system. Hera will perform the first rendezvous with a binary asteroid and provide new measurements, such as radar sounding of an asteroid interior, which will allow models in planetary science to be tested. Hera will thus provide a crucial element in the global effort to avert future asteroid impacts at the same time as providing world-leading science.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , a suite of 12 organic molecules, 9 of which also found in the original analysis of this data, exhibit high statistical probability to be present in the grains sampled from the cometary nucleus.
Abstract: Abstract The most pristine material of the Solar System is assumed to be preserved in comets in the form of dust and ice as refractory matter. ESA's mission Rosetta and its lander Philae had been developed to investigate the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in situ. Twenty‐five minutes after the initial touchdown of Philae on the surface of comet 67P in November 2014, a mass spectrum was recorded by the time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer COSAC onboard Philae. The new characterization of this mass spectrum through non‐negative least squares fitting and Monte Carlo simulations reveals the chemical composition of comet 67P. A suite of 12 organic molecules, 9 of which also found in the original analysis of this data, exhibit high statistical probability to be present in the grains sampled from the cometary nucleus. These volatile molecules are among the most abundant in the comet's chemical composition and represent an inventory of the first raw materials present in the early Solar System.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , an automated search for extremely small deviations from noise and discuss the possibility of a signal from ethylene glycol at m/z 31, but the results remain inconclusive.
Abstract: The Philae lander of the Rosetta space mission made a non-nominal landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12, 2014. Shortly after, using the limited power available from Philae's batteries, the COSAC instrument performed a single 18-minutes gas chromatogram, which has remained unpublished until now due to the lack of identifiable elution. This work shows that, despite the unsuccessful drilling of the comet and deposition of surface material in the SD2 ovens, the measurements from the COSAC instrument were executed nominally. We describe an automated search for extremely small deviations from noise and discuss the possibility of a signal from ethylene glycol at m/z 31. Arguments for and against this detection are listed, but the results remain inconclusive. Still, the successful operations of an analytical chemistry laboratory on a cometary nucleus gives great hope for the future of space exploration.
2 citations
TL;DR: Hera as discussed by the authors is a planetary defense mission under development in the Space Safety and Security Program of the European Space Agency for launch in 2024 October and rendezvous in late 2026 December with the binary asteroid Didymos and its moon, Dimorphos, which will be impacted by NASA DART spacecraft on 2022 September 26 as the first asteroid deformation test.
Abstract: Hera is a planetary defense mission under development in the Space Safety and Security Program of the European Space Agency for launch in 2024 October. It will rendezvous in late 2026 December with the binary asteroid ( 65803 ) Didymos and in particular its moon, Dimorphos, which will be impacted by NASA ’ s DART spacecraft on 2022 September 26 as the fi rst asteroid de fl ection test. The main goals of Hera are the detailed characterization of the physical properties of Didymos and Dimorphos and of the crater made by the DART mission, as well as measurement of the momentum transfer ef fi ciency resulting from DART ’ s impact. The data from the Hera spacecraft and its two CubeSats will also provide signi fi cant insights into asteroid science and the evolutionary history of our solar system. Hera will perform the fi rst rendezvous with a binary asteroid and provide new measurements, such as radar sounding of an asteroid interior, which will allow models in planetary science to be tested. Hera will thus provide a crucial element in the global effort to avert future asteroid impacts at the same time as providing world-leading science.