PRo3D-GIS tool for Hera: visualization and analysis of two use cases

Kurzfassung

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART [1]) was a NASA space mission that impacted the moonlet of the Didymos binary asteroid (Dimorphos) on 26th of September 2022. The data collected prior to the collision by the spacecraft provided extraordinary information about Dimorphos and has been analysed by several scientists around the world, allowing the extraction of Dimorphos’ characteristic properties before impact, including physical and morphological properties, among others. The European Hera mission [2] will continue exploring Didymos with a launch scheduled in October 2024. Hera will get the first images of Dimorphos after impact by the end of 2026. Along its trajectory, Hera will be able to deliver precious information about Mars, Deimos and Phobos. The Austrian contribution to the Hera mission mainly consists of supporting the scientific camera instruments´ teams (TIRI, HSC, AFC, and ASPECT) by reconstructing, visualizing and analysing the data acquired with the different instruments on board. For this purpose, several tools have already been partly developed and will be improved and completed up until arrival for rendezvous with the asteroid in late 2026. For the first phase of the project (April 2023-June 2024) two uses cases were defined, namely Mars-fly-by and Dimorphos visualization and analysis with a 3D-GIS (Geographic Information System). In order to evaluate the tools in the most realistic way, a MARS MOLA shape model [3], the results of the DART mission available on its repository [4] and the Hera planned trajectories (SPICE kernels, [5]) calculated by ESAC in September 2023 were used.