Tag: hera

  • Timelapse of Hera’s Mars flyby

    Timelapse of Hera’s Mars flyby

    On 12 March 2025, ESA’s Hera spacecraft soared just 5000 km above Mars and passed within 300 km of its distant moon, Deimos. Captured by Hera’s 1020×1020 pixel Asteroid Framing Camera, this video sequence offers a rare view of the red planet and its enigmatic moon. The original greyscale images have been colour-enhanced based on known surface features.

    Learn more: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Hera_asteroid_mission_spies_Mars_s_Deimos_moon

    Credits: ESA – European Space Agency
    Music: In Search Of Solace – Symphony Of The Solitary Mind

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  • Images from Hera’s Mars flyby (Official broadcast)

    Images from Hera’s Mars flyby (Official broadcast)

    Join us live for a star-studded event this Thursday, as scientists working on ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence release the mission’s first scientific observations beyond the Earth-Moon system, following its imminent flyby of Mars.

    On 12 March 2025 ESA’s Hera mission comes to within 5000 km of the surface of the red planet and 300 km of Mars’s more distant and enigmatic moon Deimos. During this flyby Hera is performing observations of both Mars and the city-sized Deimos.

    Hera then needs to swing its High Gain Antenna back to Earth to transmit its data home. The next day, on Thursday 13 March, these images will be premiered by Hera’s science team from ESA’s ESOC mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, explaining what they reveal, during our public webcast starting at 11:50 CET.

    The team are being joined by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and renowned science fiction writer Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, as well as a surprise special guest!

    Chapters:
    00:00 Introduction
    07:00 Image 1: AFC’s view of Mars and Deimos
    18:20 Image 2: HyperScout’s view of colourful Mars
    25:40 Audience questions
    32:25 The Author and the Astronaut
    50:55 Image 3: TIRI’s view of hot Mars, cold Mars
    55:10 Ramses, Planetary Defence and asteroid deflection
    1:00:25 The Hera AI companion – more than sci-fi!
    1:05:30 What’s next for Hera?

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    #ESA #Mars #Space

  • ESA’s Hera mission launch highlight

    ESA’s Hera mission launch highlight

    ESA’s Hera mission lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on 7 October at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC).

    Hera is ESA’s first planetary defence mission. It will fly to a unique target among the 1.3 million asteroids in our Solar System – the only body to have had its orbit shifted by human action – to solve lingering unknowns associated with its deflection.

    Hera will carry out the first detailed survey of a ‘binary’ – or double-body – asteroid, 65803 Didymos, which is orbited by a smaller body, Dimorphos. Hera’s main focus will be Dimorphos, whose orbit around the main body was previously altered by NASA’s kinetic-impacting DART spacecraft.

    By sharpening scientific understanding of this ‘kinetic impact’ technique of asteroid deflection, Hera should turn the experiment into a well-understood and repeatable technique for protecting Earth from an asteroid on a collision course.

    —————————————————
    📸 ESA – S. Corvaja
    Copyright: ESA/SpaceX
    —————————————————

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    #ESA #HeraMission #Launch

  • ESA’s Hera mission launch (Official broadcast)

    ESA’s Hera mission launch (Official broadcast)

    Hera, ESA’s first planetary defence mission, is headed to space.

    Hera will fly to a unique target among the 1.3 million known asteroids of our Solar System – the first body to have had its orbit shifted by human action – to probe lingering unknowns related to its deflection.

    —————————————————
    Credits: ESA/SpaceX
    —————————————————
    Chapters:
    00:00 Start of ESA WebTV programme – live from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany
    18:30 SpaceX live broadcast begins
    36:15 Hera lift-off
    1:53:00 – Hera separates from Falcon 9 launcher: End of SpaceX live broadcast, ESA WebTV programme continues
    1:57:20 Acquisition of the first signals from the Hera spacecraft
    2:13:26 End of ESA WebTV programme

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    #ESA #HeraMission #Asteroid

  • Meet Milani, the shoebox-sized CubeSat that’s joining our Hera mission! 🛰️ #shorts

    Meet Milani, the shoebox-sized CubeSat that’s joining our Hera mission! 🛰️ #shorts

    This tiny satellite will study the surface of the asteroid Dimorphos up close, helping us learn more about asteroid deflection and space safety. With groundbreaking sensors and instruments, Milani is ready to explore this binary asteroid system alongside Hera and Juventas

    Stay tuned for more on Hera’s thrilling mission!

    📹 ESA – European Space Agency
    📸 ESA/Science Office

    #ESA #HeraMission #Asteroid

  • Why we are sending a spacecraft to Dimorphos  ☄️ #shorts

    Why we are sending a spacecraft to Dimorphos ☄️ #shorts

    On 26 September 2022, NASA’s approximately half-tonne Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) spacecraft impacted the Dimorphos asteroid at an approximate speed of 6.1 km/s, shortening its orbit around Didymos by more than half an hour.

    Our Hera spacecraft will be launched this October to reach Dimorphos and perform a close-up ‘crash scene investigation’, gathering data on the asteroid’s mass, structure and make-up to turn this kinetic impact method of planetary defence into a well understood and repeatable technique.

    📸 ESA – European Space Agency
    📹 ESA/NASA

    #ESA #NASA #Hera

  • Hera asteroid mission goes on trial

    Hera asteroid mission goes on trial

    At some point, statistically speaking, a large asteroid will impact Earth. Whether that’s tomorrow, in ten years, or a problem for our descendants, ESA is getting prepared.

    As part of the world’s first test of asteroid deflection, ESA’s Hera mission will perform a detailed post-impact survey of Dimorphos – the 160-metre asteroid struck, and successfully deflected, by NASA’s DART spacecraft.

    Hera will soon study the aftermath. Launching in October 2024, Hera will turn this grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and hopefully repeatable planetary defence technique.

    But before Hera and its two CubeSats fly, they’re rigorously tested at ESA’s ESTEC test centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. From the force and noise of the rocket take-off to the sustained vacuum and temperature extremes of deep space, all aspects of Hera’s functioning are checked before they begin their journey, alone in space.

    Credits: ESA – European Space Agency

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    #ESA
    #Asteroid
    #HeraMission

  • Tales of Terrific Technology | The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission

    Tales of Terrific Technology | The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission

    Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.

    Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Incredible Adventures of Hera’ details the miniaturised James-Bond-style technology that Hera and its CubeSats will carry aboard with them to explore their asteroid target.

    Episode 1: Presenting Hera
    https://youtu.be/MErloMuo55o

    Episode 2: The curious case of the missing planet
    https://youtu.be/goE_6z356Wg

    Episode 3: Creating a crater
    https://youtu.be/rzba_yS2f7k

    Credit: ESA/Science Office

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    #ESA
    #Animation
    #HeraMission

  • The incredible adventures of the Hera mission | Creating a crater

    The incredible adventures of the Hera mission | Creating a crater

    Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two small CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.

    Suitable for space enthusiasts young and old, this episode of ‘The incredible adventures of the Hera mission’ is all about craters. What are they? Why are they important? Why is NASA’s DART spacecraft about to collide with an asteroid to create the Solar System’s newest – and perhaps most important – crater? And why do we need Hera to unveil the secrets of this crater?

    Episode 1: Presenting Hera https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2021/06/The_Incredible_Adventures_of_the_Hera_mission_presenting_Hera

    Episode 2: The curious case of the missing planet https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2021/11/The_Incredible_Adventures_of_the_Hera_mission_Episode_2#.YyCqp2kX89E.link

    Credit: ESA/Science Office

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    #ESA
    #HeraMission
    #Crater

  • The incredible adventures of the Hera mission | The curious case of the missing planet

    The incredible adventures of the Hera mission | The curious case of the missing planet

    Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.

    Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode tells the story of the discovery of asteroids, in ‘The Curious Case of the Missing Planet’. Astronomers in the 18th century were sure there was a planet in the wide gap between Mars and Jupiter – and even formed a group called the Celestial Police to find it. But eventually it became clear there was no single world out there, just lots and lots of little ones. Fast forward to today and more than a million asteroids have been discovered, and Hera will perform close-up detection on two of them.

    Learn more about Hera: https://www.esa.int/hera

    Credit: ESA/Science Office

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    #ESA
    #Hera
    #SpaceSafety

  • Presenting Hera | The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission

    Presenting Hera | The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission

    Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.

    Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Incredible Adventures of Hera’ takes you on a fun and informative journey to visit Didymos together with Hera. Along the way, you will discover who the main characters are, why this mission is so important, what ESA hopes to achieve with Hera and much more.

    Learn more about Hera: https://www.esa.int/hera

    Credit: ESA/Science Office

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    We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.

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    #ESA
    #Hera
    #SpaceSafety

  • ESA highlights 2019

    ESA highlights 2019

    As the year comes to a close, it is once again time to look back and reflect on some of the achievements and highlights of European spaceflight. The new Gaia star catalogue and the launch of Cheops are keeping ESA at the forefront of space science, as will Solar Orbiter, being prepared for launch next year. The Copernicus programme continues to be the largest Earth observation programme in the world, with ESA preparing even more missions. On the Space Station, Luca Parmitano became the third European to command an ISS expedition. During his second mission, he made some of the space programme’s most complex and demanding spacewalks. At the end of 2019, the ESA Space19+ ministerial conference agreed to give ESA its largest budget ever and expressed continued support for Europe’s independent access to space with Ariane 6 and Vega-C.

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    #ESA
    #2019Highlights
    #Space

  • Hera: Our planetary defence mission

    Hera: Our planetary defence mission

    Hera will show us things we’ve never seen before. Astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May tells the story of our mission that would be humanity’s first-ever spacecraft to visit a double asteroid.

    The asteroid system – named Didymos – is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to our planet, and even the smaller of the two would be big enough to destroy an entire city if it were to collide with Earth.

    Hera will help us to find out if it would be possible to deflect such an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The mission will revolutionise our understanding of asteroids and how to protect ourselves from them, and therefore could be crucial for saving our planet.

    First, NASA will crash its DART spacecraft into the smaller asteroid – known as Didymoon – before Hera comes in to map the resulting impact crater and measure the asteroid’s mass. Hera will carry two CubeSats on board, which will be able to fly much closer to the asteroid’s surface, carrying out crucial scientific studies, before touching down. Hera’s up-close observations will turn asteroid deflection into a well-understood planetary defence technique.

    The Hera mission will be presented to our Space19+ meeting this November, where Europe’s space ministers will take a final decision on flying the mission, as part of the Agency’s broader planetary defence initiatives that aim to protect European and world citizens.

    Learn more about Hera: http://bit.ly/ESAHera

    Copyright: ESA – Science Office

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    We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.

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    #ESA
    #PlanetaryDefense
    #HERAmission

  • Hera mission

    Hera mission

    Hera is the European contribution to an ESA-NASA double-spacecraft mission intended to test whether a kinetic deflection technique can be used to shift the orbit of an asteroid. The target of the mission is a double asteroid system, called Didymos, which will come a comparatively close 11 million km to Earth in 2022. The 800-m diameter main body is orbited by a 170-m moon, informally called ‘Didymoon’.

    In 2022 NASA’s DART spacecraft will first perform a kinetic impact on the smaller of the two bodies, then Hera will follow-up with a detailed post-impact survey that will turn this grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defence technique.

    Hera will also gather crucial scientific data on asteroids as a whole by carefully studying the exterior and interior properties of both bodies in the system. The spacecraft will also host two 6-unit cubesats that will be deployed near Didymos to perform, for the first time ever, multi-point measurements in a “mother-daughter” configuration. A novel intersatellite link will be used to establish a flexible communications network supporting the close-proximity operations in very low-gravity conditions, a crucial step for future exploration activities around small bodies.

    Hera, a further optimisation of ESA’s earlier proposed Asteroid Impact Mission, is currently in Phase B1 of mission development in preparation of the Agency’s Council of Ministers at European Level in late 2019.

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    Learn more: bit.ly/ESAHera