Dimorphos’s Material Properties and Estimates of Crater Size from the DART Impact
Abstract On 2022 September 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft intentionally collided with Dimorphos, the moon of the binary asteroid system 65803 Didymos. This collision provided the first full-scale test of a kinetic impactor for planetary defense. Images from DART’s DRACO camera revealed Dimorphos to be an oblate spheroid covered in boulders of varying sizes and shapes. Very little was known about Dimorphos prior to DART’s impact, including its shape, structure, and material properties. Approach observations and those following the DART impact have provided crucial knowledge that narrows the parameter space relevant to modeling the impact into Dimorphos. Here we present the results of a suite of hydrocode simulations of the DART impact on Dimorphos. Despite remaining uncertainties, initial models of DART’s kinetic impact provide important information about the results of DART (e.g., potential crater size and morphology, ejecta mass) and the properties of Dimorphos. Simulations here suggest that Dimorphos has near-surface strength ranging from a few Pascals to tens of kPa, which corresponds to crater sizes of ∼40–60 m. Simulated crater sizes provide a crucial comparison metric for the European Space Agency Hera mission when it arrives at the Didymos system. Hera’s measurement of crater size in combination with measurement of Dimorphos’s mass will allow us to assess our simulations and provide the information needed to make the DART impact experiment both the first test of a planetary defense mitigation mission and the first full-scale planetary defense simulation validation exercise.
Authors
- R. T. Daly (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1320-2985)
- Masatoshi Hirabayashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1821-5689)
- T. M. Davison (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8790-873X)
- Martin Jutzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1800-2974)
- Wendy K. Caldwell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6076-5636)
- Alice Lucchetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7413-3058)
- Dawn Graninger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1582-0581)
- Sabina D. Raducan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7478-0148)
- Jens Ormö (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5810-9442)
- Megan Bruck Syal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2776-9955)
- O. S. Barnouin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3578-7750)
- Filippo Tusberti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9290-1679)
- Stefania Soldini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3121-3845)
- Fabio Ferrari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7537-4996)
- S. R. Schwartz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5475-9379)
- K.T. Ramesh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2659-4698)
- Kathryn M. Kumamoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0400-6333)
- N. L. Chabot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8628-3176)
- Paul Sánchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3610-5480)
- A. M. Stickle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7602-9120)
- J. Michael Owen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4796-124X)
- Jordan K. Steckloff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1717-2226)
- J. M. Sunshine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9413-8785)
- E. Dotto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9335-1656)
- K. Wünnemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5423-1566)
- R. Luther (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0745-1467)
- Nilanjan Mitra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0639-463X)
- Yun Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4045-9046)
- A. Rossi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9311-2869)
- Harrison Agrusa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3544-298X)
- M. Pajola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3144-1277)
- S. Marchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2548-3291)
- Isabel Herreros (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5284-8060)
- Mallory E. DeCoster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1139-9235)
- A. S. Rivkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9939-9976)
- Laura M. Parro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6696-461X)
- C. M. Ernst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9434-7886)
- G. S. Collins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6087-6149)
- Jason M. Pearl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5340-7272)
- Andy Cheng
- Eugene G. Fahenstock
Institutions
- University of Bern (CH)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- University of Alicante (ES)
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Université Côte d'Azur (FR)
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US)
- Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics (IT)
- Institute for Biodiversity (DE)
- National Research Council (LK)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (IT)
- Politecnico di Milano (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Planetary Science Journal
- Published
- 2025-02-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/psj/ad944d
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.39
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- Marshall Space Flight Center
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Los Alamos National Laboratory