26 September 2022: ASI’s 6U LICIACube Autonomously Tracks and Images NASA’s DART Kinetic Impact Plume at Asteroid Dimorphos
Built by Argotec for ASI, the 14 kg 6U LICIACube separated from NASA’s DART spacecraft 15 days before impact and imaged the Dimorphos ejecta plume from 55 km.
On 26 September 2022 at 23:14 UTC, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos at 11 million km from Earth, altering its orbital period around Didymos by 33 minutes.
Witnessing the collision from a closest-approach distance of just 55 km was LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids), a 6U CubeSat developed by Argotec for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) that had deployed from DART’s spring dispenser on 11 September 2022.
Using autonomous optical target tracking, cold-gas reaction control thrusters, and dual optical cameras (LEIA narrow-field catadioptric telescope and LUKE wide-field RGB imager), LICIACube acquired over 600 images of the filamentary ejecta plume and the far hemisphere of Dimorphos, returning data directly to the Deep Space Network via X-band.
Published Proceedings, Open-Access Papers & Primary Dossiers
CELESTRAK SATCAT & TELEMETRY RECORD
Verified Spacecraft Key Facts & Orbital Dossier
| Spacecraft | Class | Operator / Country | Launch & Vehicle | NORAD / COSPAR | Orbit & RF Downlink | Catalog Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LICIACube | 6U | ASI (Italian Space Agency) & Argotec IT | Falcon 9 (DART) · Spring Dispenser on DART | Unassigned | X | Completed |
Catalogued Mission Summaries & Flight Notes
- LICIACube (6U, 2021):
- Italian 6U deep-space CubeSat (14 kg) deployed from NASA’s DART spacecraft 15 days before impact; autonomously tracked and imaged the kinetic impact plume on asteroid Dimorphos from 55 km distance.