The European Space Agency’s Hera mission has embarked on a remarkable journey to study the aftermath of NASA’s groundbreaking DART mission, which intentionally collided with the asteroid Didymos in 2022. Hera will explore the binary asteroid system, providing valuable insights into the potential of using similar techniques to protect Earth from future rogue asteroids. This mission represents a significant step in the international effort to safeguard our planet.
Cosmic Collaboration: Hera To Follow Up on DART’s Asteroid Deflection Test
The Hera spacecraft launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as part of the first full mission flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS). A one-of-a-kind mission, being conducted in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and its international partners, it takes off from the pioneering efforts of NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission.
In 2022, DART became the first ever mission to deliberately crash into Dimorphos — the smaller of two bodies in the Didymos binary asteroid system (illustrated) The bold move was aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of,, such a kind of planetary defence technique, modifying the orbit of Dimorphos and showing that there remains still this option, in case a city-killer asteroid comes onto near-earth space. Hera will now undertake a million-mile journey across the Solar System to investigate the aftermath of this historic collision and provide key scientific data that could aid in refining and improving our understanding of this method.
Cracking the Mystery of Dimorphos: The Tour by Hera
Once launched, Hera will head for the Didymos binary asteroid system – the target of a future binary asteroid deflection mission and scene of an impact by NASA’s DART spacecraft in 2022. After it reaches its target late in 2026, Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the DART crater.
The spacecraft will delve into studying the depth and width of the crater DART has created on Dimorphos, which is expected to help validate that those orbital changes were observed correctly in the moon. Hera will also be traveling in a group with two smaller cubesats, Milani and Juventas which are focused on the internal composition, surface minerals, and gravitational effects of Dimorphos. The detailed analysis will allow scientists to improve their models of how kinetic impactors work and provide a better understanding of the role they can play in attempting to divert an asteroid that might pose a threat in the future.
Protecting the Planet: How Hera is Contributing to Planetary Defense
Hera: an international planetary defence experiment Finishing the Investigative Part of Humankind’s First Planetary Defence Experiment Hera is a hugely important step forward for this international planetary defence mission. The mission will yield essential data to the planetary defense community that should guide us if we ever need to try such an approach on a real threat in the future.
“Planetary defense is a global enterprise, and I am very excited to see ESA’s Hera spacecraft be at the forefront of Europe’s contributions to help protect Earth,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. This emphasizes that the effort is a global one as nations work together to put in place the hardware and human knowledge necessary to defend our world against future impacts from asteroids. Hera will not only yield its own scientific results, it should also open the door to more efficient and collaborative work around the world to protect our planet in the longer term.
