LICIACube @ Nanosats Database

Name	LICIACube (Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids, LICIA)
Type	CubeSat
Units or mass	6U
Status	Operational (Deployed from DART on 2022-09-26 and successfully took images of the Dimorphos impact as per official news on 2022-09-27 as of 2022-12-25)
Launched	2021-11-24
NORAD ID	On spacecraft
Deployer	RailPOD [Tyvak]
Launcher	Falcon 9 (DART)
Deployment	Deployed from DART on 2022-09-26
Organisation	Italian Space Agency
Institution	Space agency
Entity	Government (Civil / Military)
Nation	Italy
Manufacturer	AIVT by Argotec
Oneliner	After traveling 16 months on DART, will be released in order to monitor all effects of the impact.
Description	After traveling 16 months onboard the DART satellite, LICIACube, the Italian cubesat, will be release in order to monitor all effects of the impact: the crater and the evolution of the debris produced by the collision. All data acquired during this phase of the mission will be very important to verify the efficacy of the impact. It will be the first Italian mission destined for a target so far away. In order to deal with this unique mission, the Argotec platform will use an autonomous navigation system, an integrated propulsion system, a strong camera and an advanced on-board computer. The LICIACube will fly by about 3 minutes after impact, recording details of the impact plume and surfaces at resolutions up to 2 meters per pixel. After impact, Earth-based observations will continue in order to characterize the resulting change in orbit of Dimorphos induced by the impact. The distance to Earth at impact will be approximately 11.2 million km. (The ESA Hera mission is planned to fly by Didymos in 2026 for followup observations.) Released approximately 2 days before the DART impact. LICIACube will perform a separation maneuver to follow behind DART and return images of the impact, the ejecta plume, and the resultant crater as it flies by. It will also image the opposite hemisphere from the impact. LICIACube is 3-axis stabilized and has a propulsion capability of 56 m/s. The onboard imager has a 7.6 cm aperture, F/5.2 telescope, and an IFOV of 2.9 arcsec/pixel.
Sources	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
Photo Sources	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Keywords	Beyond LEO orbit, Propulsion
Space photos	Link

Last modified: 2022-12-29
Detailed LICIACube entry in the Database
Full Nanosats Database (much more data)

LICIACube (Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids, LICIA)