The probe’s journey begins Herathe first successfully launched European Space Agency (ESA) planetary asteroid defense mission Monday 7 October 2024 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Hera took off at 4.52pm Italians from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a rocket Falcon 9 of Space December 2026 the binary system 65803 Didymos composed of asteroids Dimorphos And Didymos. Recently Dimorphos was the protagonist of the DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) of NASA, which impacted the asteroid in September 2022, deviating its trajectory as a test of the kinetic impact technique for planetary defense.
Hera, together with two micro-satellites released upon arrival, will aim to investigate the impact site with Dimorphos (which will become the most studied asteroid in history) to verify the consequences of the collision with the asteroid, accurately measure the induced orbital change and exploit the crater generated to study the sasteroid octosoil. The data will help scientists prepare more truthful plans to deal with possible future threats of collisions with asteroids and will improve the planetary defense strategies diverting the trajectories of asteroids, thus benefiting all of humanity.
The Hera mission sees the contribution of 18 countries including Italy, which created one of the two micro-satellites and is responsible through INAF (National Institute of Asrophysics) for VIEW tool (Volatile In Situ Thermogravimeter Analyser) which will analyze the dust around the binary system.
How the Hera launch went
The launch of ESA’s Hera probe has taken place Monday 7 October at 4.52pm Italian time from the famous launch base of Cape Canaveral, Florida. Being a Solar System exploration mission, the probe required a pitcher so-called “heavy” to have the right escape velocity that takes it out of the Earth’s gravitational influence. The chosen launcher was a rocket Space X’s Falcon 9from whose higher stage Hera is separate successfully approximately 1 hour and 16 minutes after takeoff. After a further hour, the probe also deployed its solar panels.
Given the enormous push needed to put Hera on the right trajectory, this time the Falcon 9 had to use of all its fuel on board. This implies that it was not possible to carry out a controlled return of Space
ESA mission objectives
ESA, NASA and almost all space agencies in the world have dedicated programs foridentification and tracking of asteroids potentially dangerous. But what would happen if we spotted one on a collision course with Earth? Would we be able to intercept and divert it? These are exactly the questions that NASA and ESA have asked themselves and which they have tried to answer with their missions DART And Hera.
The September 26, 2022 NASA crashed the probe in a controlled manner DART on the asteroid Dimorphosone of the two asteroids of the binary system 65803 Didymoswith the aim of testing the technique deflection of an asteroid by kinetic impact. The mission was a success, with the DART probe capable of decrease the orbital period of the small Dimorphos around the larger Didymos of ben 33 minutes.
However, several questions still await an answer to transform the kinetic impact technique into an effective planetary defense weapon. For example, the exact details of Dimorphos’ orbital change are unknown (except for the period change) and we do not know the size and depth of the crater excavated by DART, nor what the mineralogy, structure and mass of Dimorphos. The Hera mission aims precisely to give a answer to these questions.
How the Hera mission is made and what it will do: the characteristics
Hera will be there humanity’s first probe to orbit a binary asteroid system and is Europe’s flagship planetary defense mission. Rib steak 363 million eurosthe probe is the size of a car, with a cube-shaped main body measuring about 1.6 m wide and two wings of 5-meter solar panels. Hera’s cargo also includes two mini-satellitesthe size of a shoe box, called Juventus And Milaniin honor of Andrea Milania pioneer in monitoring collision-prone asteroids. Milani was made in Italy by the Tayvak company.
Hera and her cargo are headed towards the binary asteroid system 65803 Didymos. Didymos is the size of a mountain, while Dimorphos is smaller than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Both orbit the Sun at a distance between 1 and 2.3 astronomical units (1 astronomical unit corresponds to approximately 150 million kilometers). Hera will reach the binary asteroid system a December 2026not before having exploited in 2025 the gravitational slingshot of Mars.
Hera will continue NASA’s DART mission, verifying what the consequences of the impact of the latter with Dimorphos. Little is known about the collision, outside of the reduction in the duration of Dimorphos’ orbital period around Didymos by 33 minutes. Hera will analyze the depth and size of the crater excavated by DART on Dimorphos and will confirm any changes caused by the asteroid impact compared to numerical simulations conducted on the ground.
Upon arrival in the binary system, Hera will release the two mini-satellites Milani and Juventas. The first will analyze the mineral composition of Dimorphos and the dust released by the impact with the DART probe. The second will instead carry out the first underground radar survey of an asteroid. Towards the end of the six-month mission, Hera will also test a experimental autonomous driving mode which will allow it to navigate autonomously around asteroids based on monitoring surface characteristics.
