DRACO is the only instrument on the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft. DRACO is a narrow angle camera designed to provide final images of the Didymos system at less than 0.50 m/px ground scale as well as provide images to be used for the Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real Time Navigation (SMARTNav) targeting system on board the DART spacecraft. DRACO includes an F/12.6, 2625mm focal length Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a field-flattening lens. Images are taken with a 6.5um CMOS image sensor, the BAE CIS2521F, by the DRACO Focal Plane Electronics (FPE) and transferred to the spacecraft. Images are then processed for blobs and centroids for use in SMARTNav and either downlinked in real-time or recorded on the spacecraft for later playback. DRACO is thermally isolated and operated at -80°C to -20°C. Alignment was completed at room temperature, with additional checks after vibration testing and a focus shim was added for operation at cold temperature. Performance is near-diffraction limited and in-flight performance matches well with ground measurements. The BAE CIS2521 is measured to have very low read noise (< 2 e-) and negligible dark current. DRACO was integrated on the DART spacecraft in June 2021 after a successful instrument development and test campaign. DRACO is currently in use on the DART spacecraft after a successful commissioning. It will be used as the primary guidance sensor for the DART impact in September 2022 and provide high-resolution images of the Didymos system.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a spacecraft that will impact the smaller body of the binary asteroid Didymos. As a technology demonstration, this will be the first time a kinetic impactor is used to perturb the motion of a near earth object. This technique could someday be used to deflect a dangerous asteroid on a future collision course with Earth. As the only instrument aboard DART, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for OpNav (DRACO) serves two purposes. First, DRACO provides images to the Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real-Time Navigation (SMARTNav) algorithm, allowing the spacecraft to precisely locate and impact the target. In its final moments, DRACO will also characterize the impact site by providing high resolution, scientific imagery of the surface. Derived from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on New Horizons, the telescope is a 208 mm aperture, f/12.6, catadioptric Ritchey-Chrétien, with a 0.29 degree field of view. A lightweight opto-mechanical structure, with low CTE mirror substrates and a composite baffle tube, maintains telescope focus in the low temperature environment of deep space. At the focal plane is a 2560 by 2160 pixel, panchromatic, front-side illuminated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, with digital output, global shutter, and low read noise. A highly integrated focal plane electronics (FPE) module controls the sensor and relays data to the spacecraft.
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