Hera team congratulates NASA on the asteroid mission

Ian Carnelli, Head of Hera mission, said: “Establishing contact with such a small target over 11 million km in space is in itself an impressive feat of engineering, and tonight a wonderful chapter in space history was written. An event we have all been looking forward to for many years. Today our thoughts are also with the deceased Professor Andrea Milaniwho first described this distraction attempt in 2004.

Next comes a period of sustained observation by ground- and space-based telescopes to determine if DART’s impact has indeed achieved what was intended: the orbit of the Dimorphos ‘moon’ around its large partner Didymos (780 m diameter). move.

In parallel, ESA and its industrial partners are continuing to build the Hera spacecraft, which will be launched in late 2024 to study Dimorphos up close after the impact. Hera will collect important information such as the size of DART’s impact crater, the mass of Dimorphos and its composition and internal structure. This additional data will help make the DART deflection experiment a well-understood, repeatable technique that could one day be used in the field.”

International collaboration

NASA’s DART and ESA’s Hera missions are supported by the same international teams of scientists and astronomers, and take place through an international collaboration called AIDA – the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment. Planetary defense has no borders and is a great example of what international collaboration can achieve

International cooperation

NASA’s DART mission and ESA’s Hera mission are supported by the same international teams of scientists and astronomers and are part of an international collaboration called AIDA (Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment). Planetary defense knows no borders and is a great example of what international cooperation can achieve.

The two missions were launched in the early years of the 21st century. Conceived together in the late 19th century, when concerns about the destructive potential of invading asteroids led to the development of the first automatic surveillance systems that made up the ESA NEO-CC Near Earth Objects Coordination Center and the Sentrysystem of NASA emerged.

However, the experts working on the systems realized that it is not enough to detect the asteroid threat, they also had to find a way to counter this threat.

Carnelli explains: “Mathematician and astronomer Andrea Milani of the University of Pisa – a planetary defense pioneer who sadly passed away in 2018 – had the idea for a two-spacecraft mission, which he ‘Don Quixote’ called: one spacecraft would hit an oncoming asteroid while the other observer spacecraft would measure the degree of deflection.”

Subsequently, the concept was expanded internationally, and NASA adopted what would evolve into DART. ESA’s Hera probe will follow its predecessor into space in 2024 and arrive at Dimorphos two years later. The target asteroid will be of particular importance as it is the first body in the solar system to have its surface and orbit measurably altered by human intervention. Its name comes from Greek and means to have two forms.”

ESA’s Hera spacecraft is taking shape

Hera’s payload module is currently taking at OHB taking shape in Germany, while the drive module at Avio to be completed in Italy. Companies and institutions from 17 European countries make their own contribution to the mission, such as B. GMV in Spain, where the automatic guidance, navigation and control system is being developed that will allow the spacecraft to navigate safely through the binary asteroid system – similar in function to a self-driving car.

The table-sized Hera probe is packed with instruments: the optical asteroid framing camera is complemented by thermal and spectral imaging cameras and a laser altimeter for surface mapping. The mission also hosts three spacecraft in one, as it will also drop a pair of shoebox-sized “CubeSats” near Dimorphos.

Of the Juventa CubeSat will conduct the first radar survey of an asteroid while carrying a gravimeter and accelerometer to measure its extremely low gravity. The other CubeSat, Milani – named after the inventor of AIDA – will take spectral images in the near-infrared range and detect asteroid dust.

The CubeSat pair will remain in contact with their Hera mothership and each other via a novel connection system to gain experience piloting multiple spacecraft in unprecedented near-zero gravity before finally landing on Dimorphos.

Ian Carnelli concludes: “Thanks to DART we got an enticing look at our target. Now we can’t wait to go back and explore it in depth, to find out how the impact changed it and help make Earth a safer place.”