JuRa: The Juventas Radar on Hera Mission to Probe Internal Structure of Didymos and Dimorphos Asteroids
Abstract JuRa, the Juventas Radar, is the sounding radar of the Hera/ESA mission on cruise to the asteroid Didymos and its moon, Dimorphos. In 2027, it will, for the first time, do direct observation of the internal structure of an asteroid for the benefit of both science and planetary defense. The instrument is a 60 MHz monostatic radar with a 20 MHz bandwidth, operating in full linear polarization, onboard Juventas, a CubeSat that will operate from end of January to end of March 2027, in a sun-synchronous orbit with a radius ranging from 3.3 to 2 km. With an expected penetration depth of 100 meters or more, it will uncover the expected rubble pile structures of Didymos and Dimorphos, detect the presence of internal structures, and characterize the size and the level of heterogeneity of the constituent materials. This knowledge will provide a better understanding of the formation and stability conditions of a binary asteroids, and constrain physical models of accretion and evolution. This article describes the concept of radar sounding and tomographic imaging, then presents the Didymos and Dimorphos system and the objectives of JuRa. It then describes the JuRa’s specifications and design.
Authors
- Yann Berquin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6747-8832)
- Yves Rogez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7724-5132)
- Dirk Plettemeier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8229-3932)
- Filip Záplata
- Mark Haynes
- Alain Hèrique (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3699-883X)
- Sonia Zine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2872-0291)
- Valérie Ciarletti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9483-0539)
- Wenzhe Fa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2969-5737)
- Essam Heggy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7476-2735)
- Elena Pettinelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7066-6516)
- Sampsa Pursiainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9131-9070)
- Stephan Ulamec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8856-4622)
- Wlodek Kofman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6744-8796)
- Ian Carnelli
- Christelle Eyraud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8386-1089)
- Takao Kobayashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6266-3764)
- S. Rochat
- Christian Schmid
- Paul Abell
- Anne Virkki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4129-5381)
- Simon Green
- Hannah Goldberg
- Seiji Sugita
- Monica Lazzarin
- Dominik Nolbert
- Franco Perez Lissi
- Amine Kechouindi
- Michael Küppers
- Matin Laabs
- Patrick Michel
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- Roma Tre University (IT)
- Centrum Badań Kosmicznych (PL)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Tampere University of Applied Sciences (FI)
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
- Peking University (CN)
- The Open University (GB)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- European Space Agency (FR)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- European Space Astronomy Centre (ES)
- Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (FR)
- Institut Fresnel (FR)
- Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR)
- Tampere University (FI)
- Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KR)
- Centrale Méditerranée (FR)
- Astronika (Poland) (PL)
- Johnson Space Center (US)
- Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (FR)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT)
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Space Science Reviews
- Published
- 2026-09-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-026-01324-4
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.19