Small-body mission · ESA (concept study)

Don Quijote (concept)

An early-2000s ESA planetary-defense concept — a two-spacecraft study in which an impactor (Hidalgo) would strike an asteroid while an orbiter (Sancho) measured the deflection. It was never built, but it prefigured the AIDA/DART–Hera approach.

Concept / proposedImpactor Mission

Targets & sample

Also:A near-Earth asteroid (candidate targets only)

Mission & science

Goals: Study how to demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor and a companion observer.
Outcome: A concept study; not developed.
Known limitations: Never built or flown; a design study only.

Knowledge connections

Member of groupImpactor Mission

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

ESAEuropean Space Agency
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.

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