Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Phase D Mission Design & Navigation Analysis

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the first demonstration of kinetic deflection of an asteroid. DART uses terminal guidance to impact Dimorphos, which orbits Didymos, during its 2022 close-approach to Earth. The close range to Earth allows Earth-based observations to reconstruct the impact’s effect. Light-curve data will be used to measure the resulting change in orbit period of Dimorphos due to the momentum change associated with the impact experiment. This paper describes the current DART trajectory and recent Mission Design and Navigation analysis preparing for launch.