Impact observations of asteroid Dimorphos via Light Italian CubeSat for imaging of asteroids (LICIACube)

Nat Commun. 2023 May 26;14(1):3055. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38705-0.

Abstract

On September 26th 2022, LICIACube monitored Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impact on asteroid Dimorphos, which is the smaller component of a binary asteroid system. These close observations revealed the impact ejecta features of the first planetary defence test with a kinetic impactor.