LICIACube at (65803) Didymos: The Italian Cubesat in Support to the NASA DART Mission

DART, the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test will be the first mission demonstrating the applicability of the kinetic impactor to change the motion of an asteroid in space and prevent the impact of Earth with a hazardous object. After being launched in 2021, in autumn 2022 the DART spacecraft will impact Dimorphos, the secondary member of the (65803) Didymos binary asteroid. With a mass of 650 kg and an impact velocity of about 6.6 km/s, DART is expected to change the binary orbital period of the 160-m Dimorphos by about 10 minutes, an effect that can be easily measured by ground-based telescopes.