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Milani (ex APEX)
Milani [ESA]
ESA's Milani (formerly known as APEX (Asteroid Prospection Explorer)) probe is a 6U CubeSat mission to perform a multispectral mineral survey of the makeup of the binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos / Dimorphos.
Its main instrument will be the ASPECT hyperspectral imager, combining visible and near infrared wavelengths to survey the surface down to a maximum spatial resolution of 1 m. It will also carry VISTA,an Italian-built dust detector. The instrument is devoted to detect the presence of dust particles smaller than 5-10 µm, to detect volatiles and light organics charactersation and to monitor the molecular contamination in the surrounding of Mliani.
Milani is planned to launch with Hera in October 2024 and rendezvous with asteroid Didymos in 2026. It was baselined for an Ariane-62 Astris launch, but in October 2022 a SpaceX Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) was selected.
| Nation: | Europe |
|---|---|
| Type / Application: | Asteroid flyby |
| Operator: | ESA |
| Contractors: | Tyvak International |
| Equipment: | |
| Configuration: | CubeSat (6U) |
| Propulsion: | |
| Power: | 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries |
| Lifetime: | |
| Mass: | |
| Orbit: | heliocentric |
| Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milani (ex APEX) | - | 2024 | CC ? | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with Hera, Juventas |
References:
- ESA: Hera’s APEX CubeSat will reveal the stuff that asteroids are made of
- EoPortal Directory: Hera
