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?
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos
Follow us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter
On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook
On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram
On LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ESAonLinkedIn
On Pinterest: https://bit.ly/ESAonPinterest
On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr
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.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_Conditions
#ESA #Mars #Space