October 8, 2024
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Europe’s Hera mission launches to visit asteroid hit by NASA
Hera is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid Dimorphos, which was intentionally hit by NASA’s DART probe, in 2026
ESA’s Hera mission launched on October 7 at 10:52 a.m. local time on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA.
A unique asteroid mission is underway.
The European Space Agency’s Hera mission launched today (October 7) at 10:52 a.m. EDT (14:52 GMT) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Florida coast. It was launched.
ESA’s Hera spacecraft soared into the cloudy skies above Florida and began its multimillion-mile journey across the solar system to the binary asteroid system Didymos. This binary asteroid system became famous in September 2022 when NASA launched the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Mission) into Didymos’s small companion star. , Dimorphos. The impact altered Dimorphos’ orbit, demonstrating the utility of planetary defense strategies to help protect Earth from rogue asteroids in the future. Hera will follow up on the DART mission and see its aftermath.
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“We want to see Hera call home and finally capture a signal that says, ‘Okay, we’re on our way to Demorphus,'” said Astronomy, a member of the Hera science team. Mr. Alan Fitzsimmons, CEO, said this before the launch. Live webcast. Hera separated from the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket about an hour and 16 minutes after liftoff and was able to make a call home to get a signal, ESA officials said.
The news was a relief to Fitzsimmons and the entire Hella team.
Fitzsimmons added: “We have a working spacecraft.” “We now return to Didymos and Dimorphos to make those measurements and make the world a safer place from asteroid impacts.”
Hera’s launch comes after SpaceX received permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume flights after last week’s anomaly.
Unlike a typical SpaceX launch, Falcon 9’s first stage did not return to Earth for a smooth landing. In order to launch Hera on an asteroid mission, SpaceX had to use all of the Falcon 9 booster’s fuel for launch. This is the 23rd flight of the Falcon 9 booster, called Booster 1061, which has previously flown 10 SpaceX Starlink missions, two Transporter rideshare flights, two NASA astronaut flights, and a NASA cargo flight. 1 and seven other satellite and space missions.
“Goodbye, 1061, and thank you,” SpaceX chief integration engineer John Insprucker said to the booster after stage separation.
On September 28, during the nominal launch of Falcon 9 carrying two astronauts to the International Space Station, the rocket’s upper stage suffered a “non-nominal deorbit burn,” resulting in The stage fell into the ocean outside the target disposal area. said SpaceX. (Falcon 9’s upper stage cannot be reused, unlike the first stage, which lands autonomously minutes after going into space.)
The $398 million (€363 million) Hera spacecraft, accompanied by two small cubesats called Milani and Juventus, is scheduled to arrive at Dimorphos in late 2026 to see DART’s research up close. be. Along the way, Hera will pass by Mars in 2025 to gain gravity assistance for asteroid travel.
The NASA mission shortened Dimorphos’ orbit by 33 minutes, and may have changed the shape of the small moon.
Hella plans to study the depth and size of the crater that DART carved out on Dimorphos, and compare it to earlier simulations to see what changes, if any, the impact caused to the moon.
Meanwhile, two CubeSats will study Dimorphos’ structure and its surface mineralogy and gravity, all of which will help refine the model.
“Planetary defense is an inherently international effort, and ESA’s Hera spacecraft is at the forefront of European efforts to help protect the planet,” ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher said in a statement after the launch. I’m really happy to be able to see it.” Expanding ESA’s planetary defense efforts. ”
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